After the Rain

 

The railing on the balcony is strung with glistening beads of rain, as though a rosary. I pause at each one and say a prayer, supplicating the powers that be, for my writing to break through the barrier of  private and personal,  and into the expansive public domain. I hope my writing endeavours will go beyond doing it as a necessary part of my daily process, my daily living, my daily routines, and that it becomes one where I step out into the world and am sheltered by the umbrella of professional practice, into the territory of published authors/poets. It seems a natural progression at this point in my life. 

Being longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize is a big step in that direction, and it is indeed, a great privilege to be recognized by esteemed and practiced authors. It is the emerging of the sun after the rain of rejections over the last number of years. The story, Asylum, takes place in both Quebec City and Toronto. It centres around the last week of my mother's life, while focusing on the impacts of deinstitutionalization during the 1960s and 70s. In-house care for those with mental health issues and residential schools that took care of children whose parents were unable to for one reason or another, were discontinued, with the thinking that it benefitted them more not to be 'confined.' The residents of these facilities were released into the community, returned to their families and if they didn't have a family, into 'community-based homes' which were often dingy and in disrepair. Whereas for children, foster homes were often less than an ideal option, many becoming victims of assorted abuses. 

On September 14 CBC will announce the shortlist, and September 21, the winners. To even be on the longest, I consider a great privilege, but to make it any further I would almost consider divine intervention! 

To see the full announcement you can go HERE.