To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable by Brad Aaron Modlin

Brad Aaron Modlinfrom Guelph, Ont., has made the2022CBC PoetryPrize shortlistfor To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable.

He will receive $1,000 fromtheCanada Council for the Artsand his work has beenpublished onCBC Books.

The winner of the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize will be announced on Nov. 24. They will receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand will attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for the Arts and Creativity.

Modlin is a creative writing professor and poet. His work has been usedfor orchestral scores, an art exhibition in New York, and has been featured onThe Slowdown with U.S. poet laureate Ada Limn and Poetry Unbound from public radio's On Being Studios.His book Everyone at This Party Has Two Names won the Cowles Poetry Prize.

To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable was inspired by the hope that comes with spring, Modlin told CBC Books.

This poem began out of that late-winter feeling: you haven't seen grass for so long you almost don't believe in it anymore.- Brad Aaron Modlin

"My next book is about our difficult, fragile, favourite world. About hope and why we need it. This poem began out of that late-winter feeling: you haven't seen grass for so long you almost don't believe in it anymore. But the fact it's been so long means spring is almost here, right? Probably? We need that green," he said.

You can read To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearablebelow.

As in, if the people there like everyone, even
the ones they are not related to, if they like
strangers and budding plants, like to hum the songs
in each other's heads, like food
too much to chew it, and too much not
to share, if they like to be alive
more than to bomb or be bombed, like
visitors, like thirst, like letting it last
ten extra minutes to up the thrill of water,
brush their mouths with baking soda
so their next drink tastes sweet, if their games
do not name winners and losers, if no
one must deadbolt a door behind them in fear,
if no child or adult hears, I did not invite you
to my party, if people do not exchange
paper and say, This paper is worth
so many's unhappiness, if no
night outlasts a day, if no
one oversleeps for sadness, or if
they do, someone it's a network
better than any antiquated phone tree
some appointed friend lies atop the quilt,
beside the sleeper and waits, matching
their inhales and exhales,
and no one wakes alone.

So far away and so down
here, we're all rooting for you,
astronaut. We squint toward your ship,
which must be must be
traveling somewhere overhead.
We rise from these creaky beds
in our empty rooms
and stretch the curtains wide.

Read the other finalists

• From the Mouthby Rachel Lachmansingh (Toronto)
• Mouth Prayersby Luka Poljak(Vancouver)
• Grief whiteby Kerry Ryan (Winnipeg)
• Spell World Backwardsby Bren Simmers (Charlottetown)

About the 2022CBC PoetryPrize

The winner of the 2022CBC PoetryPrizewill receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

The 2023CBC Nonfiction Prizewill open in January. The 2023CBC Poetry Prizewill open in April.