Author Description

A New Age Renaissance Republic Book of Poetry by Rebecca Anne Banks. Written in Montreal from 2006 to 2010. I had just moved from Toronto to Montreal in 2006. My grandfather was from Montreal, my great-grandmother had owned a milner's shop (hats and gloves) here and my people have been living here since the earliest times. The place has a big blue aura, an island surrounded by water and sky. Montreal has a special karma, a special magic of synchronicity and there is nothing like walking down the street and being a distant relative of 1 in 3 people you meet. One of the first pieces I wrote when I arrived was the long poem The Song of Longtime Summer after settling at a beautiful 3 storey walk-up apartment on Bannyntyne in Verdun. Three months after moving in I lost my work-from-home database job and had to scramble to find a new place. The first 2 chapters of Radio Storms were written at the big historic manse on Coursol by Atwater Market where I shared an apartment, inspired by trips to the museums and local markets. Living with other people was turning out to be a hassle, so I moved to Yan's, a small tenement in St. Henri, a room with a kitchenette, where it was possible to save monies for art projects. The third and fourth chapters were written here, inspired by the people at Yan's (most of us heartbroken and poor). In my room in the heat of Summer, I would on occasion hear a blast of music from someone's radio, and this was what inspired the title of this poetry book, Radio Storms.