Dagne Forrest is a Canadian poet. In 2021 she was included in Canada’s Poem in Your Pocket campaign. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in a range of journals including Rogue Agent, Tar River Poetry, The New Quarterly, december magazine, Pinhole Poetry, and Prism International. She belongs to Painted Bride Quarterly’s senior editorial and podcast teams. Her chapbook Un / Becoming is published by Baseline Press (2025).
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
Born in Ottawa, my family was prone to frequent moves during my childhood. I first returned at age eleven to live in the west end with my family. I remember frequent trips on the bus downtown that summer to see Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Nelson Theatre (now the Bytowne Cinema, of course). I was obsessed.
Towards the end of high school I volunteered with Octopus Books and even did a stint as a paid coordinator at one point. I was writing (a terrible novella), but didn’t really have a grasp of what I wanted to do as a writer.
As a young adult I moved away, for extended travel, and then to start life in the UK with my husband. We returned to Ottawa when our firstborn was two, only to move out to Almonte a decade later. Ottawa continues to play a big part in my life (family, friends, and some clients with work) and the opportunity to join the poetry community has been a true pleasure.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I picked up poetry at midlife, as my kids became older and more independent. I’d jumped into parenting wholeheartedly and loved the intensity of it, but never tried to pursue writing or creative pursuits that were exclusively my own during those years. I’m in awe of writers who pursue and achieve creative goals while raising children, but it’s not how I was made. My creativity was my family, I suppose.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
Honestly, I’m a bit of a hermit. Covid wasn’t as hard for me, in terms of the social isolation, because of this tendency. I’m fortunate to have another writing community through the literary journal that I’m managing editor of, but that’s a remote connection geographically.
Emerging from that period of time to discover that we had a new group called Almonte Readers & Writers who were offering open mic nights, workshops, and a series of events with poets and writers in conversation with each other was really exciting. We are blessed to also have the Almonte Writers Guild. I realized I was ready to spend more time in the company of fellow poets and creatives.
Finding a sense of community with other local writers has been really eye opening and positive. The Delve series run by Almonte Readers & Writers brought Ottawa-based writers Conyer Clayton and Jean Van Loon out to our town, and it was a wonderful evening. I knew immediately that I wanted more exposure to Ottawa’s poetry community.
Again, I’ve been able to build up some connections with Ottawa area writers through social media, but it’s been meeting them in person that really matters. It was fantastic to attend my first ever VerseFest this spring and to meet several people I’d only ever known online. And the space was just packed with people passionate about poetry – I loved it.
I’m not sure if I’m conscious of a shift in my writing necessarily, but I do see things differently now that I feel a part of a much larger, very vibrant writing and creative community. It’s a good feeling. I’m genuinely eager to see what the future brings with these new connections.
Q: What are you working on now?
I go through phases. During the last year I was fairly obsessive about a series of poems that worked through a fall I had at the top of Falldown Lane in Carp (in Ottawa’s rural west end) that resulted in the loss of a tooth. When I realized the name of the road, I couldn’t not seize the opportunity. I’m still working these into a micro chapbook. I’m a bit tireless about changing gears and trying new things, so I’ve also been working on some ekphrastic poems and I always love a cento. When I feel stuck, I immerse myself in some amazing poems and find lines that speak to me and might help me create a new cento.
I love the sense of being in conversation with other artists in my work and would actually love to do something more intentionally collaborative. I’m beyond thrilled that the friend who created the cover illustration for my first chapbook was inspired to create a series of paintings in response to the poems, and we’ll be holding a sort of vernissage together in late May 2025 in Almonte. Her name is Auni Milne. She’ll share her visual art, and I’ll read some poetry.
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