the proud are reborn as bees
they boast what they are
this and this and this and this
I am I am I am
but I believe instead
those who know
being is a hive
return and hum like slow honey
I am I am I am

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist and the author of 29 books including Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was chosen for Hamilton Reads 2023. His national bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates won the Leacock Medal for Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was longlisted for Canada Reads.

In addition to Portal, his latest book is a collaborative long poem (written with Lillian Nećakov) entitled Duck Eats Yeast, Quacks, Explodes; Man Loses Eye. Be:longings, a series of bronze sculptures commissioned by the City of Hamilton and created with Simon Frank and Tor Lukasik-Foss was installed in 2023. Born in Northern Ireland to South African parents of Lithuanian Ashkenazi descent, he lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. garybarwin.com