DAVID STONES


poet. performer. spoken word.

sfumato
sfumato_book

Infinite Sequels: Brilliant and Beautiful

What readers and audiences say:

“…(Infinite Sequels) is a brilliant and beautiful piece of theatre…. a must see.”
 London Free Press

“..totally spellbinding….a riveting poet and a mesmerizing performer.”
Linda Kahn

“….a virtuoso performance….a moving and memorable experience.”
Theatre London

“….EXCEPTIONAL art at its finest….. powerful and beautiful poetry.” 
Eeva Stierwalt

“….dizzying and phenomenal work…brilliantly written and performed….immersive, visceral, genuine…”
Alan Leangvan 

“Vivid, intense, and poignant… I was thinking to myself that poetry is a rather impenetrable artform. That is, until you hear it performed as memorably as it was in David’s show.” 
Andrew Harding

david stones toronto poet, author, actor
"Riveting"
david stones toronto poet, author, actor
"Unforgettable"
david stones toronto poet, author, actor
"Mesmerizing"

...poetry & me

David Stones

The poet is the priest of the invisible.  Wallace Stevens

Genuine poetry communicates before it is understood. T.S.Eliot

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Writing poetry is a state of free float.  Margaret Atwood

Poetry is a language in which man explores his own amazement. Christopher Fry

Poetry in motion. Pure poetry. Truly poetic. Throughout the ages poetry has been the universal metaphor for beauty and grace. Rhythmic distillation. Compression of thought. Poetry burnishes words. It polishes, hones and delights. It stirs, disturbs and clings. And I’ve loved it since I could first think. I’ve written poetry most of my life. Breathed it my whole life. I discovered Souster at age eight. The rest followed: Auden, Cohen, Plath, Thomas, Layton. The list is long. I’m writing hard now.  And performing, too.  I take that as seriously as the composition. When I speak my poems the listener hears what I want heard. This site’s a bit of a homage to my craft. Hope you visit often and maybe get to one of my gigs or shows.

collage

...poem of the month

THESE POEMS OF MINE

These poems of mine
refuse the anesthetic.
No easy sleep for them,
no quick way out,
no eager anodyne to smooth
their novocaited lines
into the pillow.

Some poems it seems
lounge so easily on the page,
the boneless plasticity
of cats in sunlight,
confetti words lobbed
in their parachutes to land
with the exactitude of bearings.

Not so the lines I write.
They mostly writhe like
moths too close to flame,
twisting into shapes
I scarcely recognize, the
wretched little monsters of love
they’ve always wanted to be.

...media

David discusses poetry and his show, Infinite Sequels, with Keith Tomasek as part of his Stratford Reviews/Performer Podcast series
david stones toronto poet, author, actor
poetry fragment from sfumato

…poetry & me    |     …poem of the month     |    …media      |     …gigs &  publishing    |     blog

...books & shows

Sfumato

“A dead mouse reclining in a slipper; a cigarette smouldering on a motel bedside table; a woman seeing her life reflected in a deserted bird feeder. In Stones’ poetic universe the images pile starkly into the complex tissue of mortal experience, an abstruse sfumato-like weave of the human soul. By turns playful, darkly meditative and beautifully transcendent Stones ventilates a world keenly observed, acutely realized and memorably articulated.”

Infinite Sequels

david stones toronto poet, author, actor

To every action there is an immediate and intrinsically related reaction, a linked chain of repercussions that domino within this extraordinary corral we call existence.

The path taken, the call unanswered, the leaf that refuses to fall- employing a range of poetic forms and undulations of mood and tempo, Infinite Sequels explores the spectrum of human possibility.

From love to anguish, from reprisal to forgiveness, from joy to sorrow, David Stones casts a discerning eye, a keen wit and a singular poetic voice to the remarkable arc that is life’s journey. 

A full recording of the stage version of Infinite Sequels is now available in DVD form. Heralded by London Free Press as a “brilliant and beautiful piece of theatre,” the show has wowed audiences since its first performance in 2013. Drop David a note here to order your copy for ten dollars.

...gigs & publishing

...gigs

The “poetus interruptus” of COVID continues to prevent live poetry events and shows. But the Zoom universe is picking up speed. Please join me as a Feature Poet as part of the Art Bar Poetry Series on Tuesday, April 6th, 2021 at 8 pm @ Facebook/Groups/Art Bar Poetry Series. April 6th is the BIG LAUNCH day for my new collection, sfumato, so be sure to join in for lots of new poems and material….

Sunday, April 11, 2021 Red Lion Reading Series feat. David Stones. Stratford’s newest, live poetry and music series kicks off on Sunday evening, April 11th! Come and experience David Stones launching his brand new book of poems, sfumato! Already on a national bestseller list for poetry! 7:30 – 9:30pm.  23 Albert St., Stratford.

...publishing

Won two Honourable Mentions for “the thing is” and SAMUEL PEPYS AND THE BEE GEES …both published February, 2021 in Beret Day Books’ “The Pandemic Poems” anthology.

NAILS and FRANK were published by Beliveau Books in their “Denoument” anthology, February 2021.

Hidden Book Press published 20 of my haiku in a 2019 online series short pandemic related poetry.

Watch for new poems NAILS, THE WEIGHTS and OUR SHAPES ETERNAL, all appearing in the poetry and arts e-zine Synaeresis 5 in early 2019. https://andreasgripp.wixsite.com/synaeresis

Just won First Honourable Mention + two Runner-up prizes in the Ontario Poetry Society’s Arborealis prize for Canadian contemporary poetry. Watch for THE CIGARETTE, AT SOME POINT and THE CAN OPENER in Arborealis by spring 2019. www.theontariopoetrysociety.ca

Won two honourable mentions in Ontario Poetry Society’s Open Heart 13 contest. YOU AS LACUNA and POEM NUMBER FIVE just published by Beret Day Books. www.theontariopoetrysociety.ca

Won First Prize and Runner Up prize in Ontario Poetry Society’s Might Onym contest. THE FALSE GOD and THE PRONUNCIATION OF LOVE just published by Beret Day Books.

Harmonia Press just published two new poems in Synaeresis 7: SEARCHLIGHT WORDS (for e e cummings) and INCIDENTAL BEAUTY. https://andreasgripp.wixsite.com/Synaeresis

Two new poems, THE PILGRIMS (for Leonard Cohen) and CUT GLASS: Small Villanelle For Dylan (for Dylan Thomas) to be published in the summer edition of Big Pond Rumours e-zine. www.big-pond-rumours.com

YOU AS LACUNA to be published out of India as part of a world-wide anthology of magnum opus poems titled Universal Oneness. https://authorspress.com

Named winner of Brooklin Poetry Society’s 2018 poetry contest for LANDSCAPES, and now will judge their 2019 contest. www.BrooklinPoetrySociety.com

Three poems will appear in Dancing On Stones, an anthology of Canadian poetry appearing summer 2019 from Beret Day Books: SILENCE ISN’T SILENCE, THE TIME WILL COME and EMILY DICKINSON

...get in touch with me

David Stones
poet. performer. spoken word.