Dial-A-Poem Montreal was a phone-based service started in 1985 by

Fortner Anderson Fortner Anderson (born 1955) is an American-born poet, performance artist, and visual artist who has lived in Montreal, Quebec, since 1976. He is the author of several volumes of poetry and has published many audio recordings of his spoken word pe ...

, who was inspired by

John Giorno John Giorno (December 4, 1936 – October 11, 2019) was an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, i ...

Dial-A-Poem Dial-A-Poem is a public poetry service established in 1968 by the late poet, artist and activist John Giorno after a phone conversation with William Burroughs. The service enabled members of the public to call Giorno Poetry Systems and to listen to ...

and wanted to expand poetry beyond the limits of print.Michael Farber. "A line of poetry just a dial away." ''The Gazette''. September 16, 1986. p. 3. Listeners in Montreal could call 843-7636 (THE-POEM) anytime of the day to hear a poem. The service ran from September 1985 to July 1987 and ended because Anderson lacked the time and money needed for the project to continue.Heather Hill. "First electronic novel hits computer screens." ''The Gazette''. August 1, 1987. p. 103. He produced the recordings himself and funded the project with his own money, sales of Clifford Duffy's first book ''Blue Dog Plus'', individual sponsorships, and sponsorships by bookstores, local craftsmen, and schools.Ray Filip
"Lord of the Rings."
''Books in Canada: A National Review of Books''. March 1986. p. 4. Accessed 15 August 2019. Participating bookstores included The Word Bookstore, Argo Bookshop, The Double Hook Book Shop, Steve Welch Books, and

Véhicule Press The Vehicule Poets was a collective formed in Montreal in the 1970s by poets Endre Farkas, Artie Gold, Tom Konyves, Claudia Lapp, John McAuley, Stephen Morrissey and Ken Norris, who shared an interest in experimental American poetry and Europe ...

. Anderson reported that in the first year, the service received about 200 phone calls a day and that over 150 poets contributed. He described the content of the poems as containing "themes of reaction to society's structures and structures, personal and social violence, topical issues of sex and gender, and people coping with alienation and the shifting ground of their own personalities."Ian Ferrier. "Dial-a-Poem : Montreal poets put works on the line." ''The Gazette''. October 1, 1985. p. 12. Dial-A-Poem Montreal participated in Canada's eighth National Book Festival in April 1986 by showcasing a poem by a participating poet for each day of the festival.Heather Hill. "Book fest focuses on Quebec writers." ''The Gazette''. April 15, 1986. p. 22. It celebrated it first anniversary September 1986 with a 100 Poets Party, where 11 hours of continuous recorded performance poetry was presented at Galerie Articule. Though predominantly showcasing Anglophone poets in Montreal, Dial-A-Poem Montreal also aired the work of poets from Vancouver who sent their recordings to Dial-A-Poem Montreal. Poets who read on Dial-A-Poem Montreal include:

Erín Moure Erín Moure (born 1955 in Calgary, Alberta) Erín Moure is a Canadian poet and translator with 18 books of poetry, a coauthored book of poetry, a volume of essays, a book of articles on translation, a poetics, and two memoirs; she has translated ...

, Howard Tessler, Bill Furey, Errol MacDonald,

Raymond Filip Raymond Filip (born 1950) is a Lithuanian-Canadian poet and writer who was born in a displaced persons camp in Lübeck, Germany after World War II. He teaches in the English department at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Sa ...

, Clifford Duffy, Laurence Hutchman, Michael Toppings,

Anne McLean Anne McLean (1962, Toronto) is a Canadian translator of Spanish literature. She began to learn Spanish in her late twenties and developed her language skills while living in Central America. Some years later in England, she took a master's degree i ...

Roo Borson Ruth Elizabeth Borson, who writes under the name Roo Borson (born January 20, 1952 in Berkeley, California) is a Canadian poet who lives in Toronto. After undergraduate studies at UC Santa Barbara and Goddard College, she received an MFA from th ...

Daphne Marlatt Daphne Marlatt, born Buckle, CM (born July 11, 1942 in Melbourne, Australia), is a Canadian poet and novelist who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. At a young age her family moved to Malaysia and at age nine they moved to British Columb ...

Tom Wayman Thomas Ethan Wayman (born 13 August 1945) is a Canadian author. Born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Wayman has lived most of his life in British Columbia. He studied at the University of British Columbia (BA 1966), and the University of California, I ...

Claudia Lapp Claudia Lapp (born 1946) is a poet born in Stuttgart, Germany. She graduated from Bennington College in Vermont with a BA in French and German Literature, minor in Music, and then moved to Montreal, Quebec. She was a member of the Vehicule Poet ...

, Elizabeth Allen, Patrick Lane,

Lorna Crozier Lorna Crozier, OC (born 24 May 1948) is a Canadian poet who holds the Head Chair in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria. She has authored fifteen books and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2011. She is credited as ...

Peter van Toorn Peter van Toorn (1944 – October 6, 2021) is a Canadian poet, whose 1984 collection ''Mountain Tea'' was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry at the 1984 Governor General's Awards."Recollections". ''C ...

Endre Farkas Endre Farkas (born 1948) is a Montreal-based poet, editor and playwright born in Hajdúnánás Hungary in 1948. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he fled to Canada with his parents, who were Holocaust survivors. When he first arrived, his g ...

Brian Bartlett Brian Bartlett (born October 1, 1953) is a Canadian poet, essayist, nature writer, and editor. He has published 14 books or chapbooks of poetry, two prose books of nature writing, and a compilation of prose about poetry. He was born in St. Steph ...

, Michael Harris, Noah Zacharin,

Leo Kennedy John Leo Kennedy (August 22, 1907 – 2000) was a Canadian poet and critic, who in the 1920s and 1930s was a member of the Montreal Group of modernist poets. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' says of him that "Kennedy helped change the direction ...

, Esther Ross, Johanne Lafleur,

Margaret Christakos Margaret Christakos (born 1962 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian poet who lives in Toronto. Life Christakos was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. She is a Canadian poet, fiction author, literary essayist and creative writing instructor. Sin ...

R.G. Everson Ronald Gilmour Everson (November 18, 1903 – February 16, 1992) was a Canadian poet born in Oshawa ON. He studied at University of Toronto (B.A. 1927) and Upper Canada Law School (LL.B. 1930).Peter Stevens. "Ronald Gilmour Everson." ''The Canadia ...

Louis Dudek Louis Dudek, (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books. In ''A Digital Hist ...

Irving Layton Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following, but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001) ...

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood tr ...

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

, Chris Kraus, Sylvere Lotringer, David Rattray,

Edmundo Farolan Edmundo Farolán (d. Jan. 29, 2023) is a Filipino-Canadian author. He won literary awards as a young writer-scholar while studying philosophy and letters in Madrid in the 1960s. He taught English, Spanish, and Media in various universities, includi ...

Manuel Betanzos Santos Manuel Betanzos Santos (1933-1995) was a Galician poet, critic and translator who settled in Montreal, Quebec in 1959. He taught at Université de Sherbrooke in the 1960s and later at McGill University and Lower Canada College. He founded the tri ...

Shulamis Yelin Shulamis Yelin (April 12, 1913 – June 24, 2002) was a Canadian Jewish writer and educator. Born in Montreal, Quebec to parents who had emigrated from Chernobyl, Yelin was an alumna of Macdonald College, from which she graduated in 1932; she then ...

, and

Renato Trujillo Renato Trujillo (Unknown date, 1942 - October 28, 2000) was a Chilean-Canadian poet and writer. He was proficient in many languages. He was fluent in French, English and Spanish, and knowledgeable of Portuguese and Italian. He moved to Quebec in ...

. Dial-A-Poem Montreal recently resumed with a 2020-2021 edition.

References

{{Reflist, 30em History of poetry Information by telephone Canadian poetry Culture of Montreal 1985 establishments in Quebec