The Sovereign by Gianmarco Visconti

Gianmarco Visconti has made the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for The Sovereign.

• 30 writers make longlist for the 2018CBC Poetry Prize

About Gianmarco

Gianmarco Visconti is an Ismaili poet from Edmonton. He was awarded the Glass Buffalo English Poetry Prize in 2016 and his poetry has appeared on buses and trains around Edmonton. In 2015, he received the Canadian Library Association's Student Article Award for his graduate research examining the role of public libraries in creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQ Muslim youth. He's currently at work on a personal collection of poetry based on the 99 names of Allah.

Entry in five-ish words

A prayer for divine fathers.

The poem's source of inspiration

"This poem is part of a larger project wherein I'm trying to better understand my relationship with Islam, which is very much rooted in my personal life, my memories and my family history. The journey towards the divine is the same, in my mind, as the journey towards the selfand this is the narrative I'm constantly striving to write."

First lines

You don't like ties,
your father never taught you
how to wear them

They seemed so heavy
with inheritance
at the time

A paternal legacy,
perhaps you might finally live up to
your Arbresh face

About the 2018CBCPoetry Prize

The winner of the 2018CBCPoetry Prizewill receive$6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, will have their work published onCBC Booksandwill have the opportunity to attend a writing residency attheBanff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.