Poet's Corner: “The Same City” by Terrance Hayes

by Mikaela Brewer ​for The 44 North

Senior Editor

“The Same City” by Terrance Hayes from Hip Logic. Copyright © by Terrance Hayes. Reprinted in Poetry with permission of Penguin Books, a division of The Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

A car in the rain at night

Note: This poem is not in the public domain! Please use the link above to read it.

Terrance Hayes is one of my favourite poets, with a long list of collections, awards, and fellowships which you can explore here. He is known to invent formal constraints, and often writes on themes of music, masculinity, popular culture, and race. His breathtaking poem, “The Same City,” is no different. 

The first thing you might notice about it is the shape of the poem, much like falling snow or a rain-streaked windshield—especially in the cold. The lineation could also mimic tassels or something woven, drawing attention to the layering of time and relationships in the poem. We feel the movement, which Hayes mentions in this quote, via Poetry, originally from a 2013 interview with Lauren Russell for Hot Metal Bridge:

“I’m chasing a kind of language that can be unburdened by people’s expectations. I think music is the primary model—how close can you get this language to be like music and communicate feeling at the base level in the same way a composition with no words communicates meaning? It might be impossible. Language is always burdened by thought. I’m just trying to get it so it can be like feeling.”

The movement of water, juice, breath, cables, mouths, electricity, radiowaves, bodies, traffic, and light are musical to begin with, but Hayes illuminates this by braiding time in: the present moment’s, Noah’s, Joseph’s, his when he met his girlfriend, his father’s as a younger man, and the infant’s biological father’s. And all of this life shares space to say that he—we—exist within all of these times. A stunning example is in the first half of the poem, where we almost feel like the speaker could be the infant’s brother—that he’s longing to be a father through this lens: “I’d get out now, / prove I can stand with him / in the cold, but he told me to stay / with the infant.” 

And then, we burrow further into the soil of time by visiting Noah and Joseph, setting up the multi-generational rescuing that happens in the second stanza—“But to rescue a soul is as close / as anyone comes to God”—by beginning again. This is especially resonant of Noah’s story, after the flood. In the case of this poem, the rain is still falling, and the rescue is ongoing with tendrils in every time portal Hayes has opened (and left open). In other words, he’s writing about love. 

The complexity of love is further enacted through the breathtaking enjambment Hayes uses. These lines stop me every time: “There is one thing I will remember / all my life. It is as small / & holy as the mouth / of an infant. It is speechless.” Read each line individually, without the others. Hayes doesn’t tell us what the ‘one thing’ is, either. I read it as ‘love’ while knowing how intentionally he leaves himself and us speechless. It’s so profound it’s unnamable. And all we can do is hold each other—our smallness, sacredness, and innocence—in the cold.

Thinking about the holiday season and the onset of winter, this poem is a tender though strong reminder to remember who we are because of who is or has been for us. “In 1974, this man met my mother / for the first time as I cried or slept / in the same city that holds us / tonight. If you ever tell my story, / say that’s the year I was born.” Look at the enjambment again, and how it’s shifted to capture a clear love, honouring, and admiration for a father, even though I’m positive it wasn’t a perfect relationship. The holidays remind us that perfect relationships don’t exist. We continue to love, give, and carry grief regardless. Whose name(s), in your life, could you substitute into this poem, perhaps changing a few details here and there? We are all born when someone else is, whether blood-related or not. And to tell them we feel this is one of the greatest gifts we can give during the loneliest time of the year. 

Before you go, I wanted to share a few other poems that are in conversation with this one: “Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo, “A New Law” by Greg Delanty, “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Please read them—I hope they offer you a hand or hug this winter. 

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief: Holding Multiple Truths

by Gillian Smith-Clark, ​for The 44 North

Editor in Chief

Pine boughs decorated with small yellow lights

As the year turns, we’re invited into a season that often arrives wrapped in a package of expectation: celebration, connection, spiritual renewal, reflection. Yet the holidays also hold multiple truths at once, and for many, the season arrives with more complexity than cheer—distance from family, uncertainty about the future, unresolved conflicts, and more questions about spirituality and religion than answers; alongside the not-so subtle pressure to reinvent ourselves on January 1st. This December/January issue of The 44 North looks at the holidays with honesty and curiosity, and joy and hope. Not because everything feels okay, but because to find joy and peace in the holiday season it is not only possible, but necessary, to hold multiple truths at once. To see the world as it is: in all its beautiful messiness. 

This issue, our team explores the realities that shape our well-being at this time of year. Our feature story by Abbigale Kernya examines what it means to spend the holidays away from home—whether by choice, circumstance, or necessity—and how distance reshapes belonging. Abbigale and Helena together take on the pressures of New Year’s resolutions and career planning, challenging the embedded assumption that success and happiness in life can be scheduled like a process, or a destination at which we eventually arrive. The latest Life Outside the Box podcast episode is a powerful and inspiring conversation with Cal Campos, focused on questioning the systems we’re in and having honest conversations about suicide.

We’re also excited to share this issue’s Artist Spotlight, featuring Extended Mic, a community-rooted platform showcasing diverse young creators pushing the boundaries of film and poetry. And in our Book Review, we take a closer look at John Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis—a deeply human, vulnerable reflection on illness, interconnectedness, and what it means to care for one another in a fragile and inequitable world.

We are honoured to publish a powerful work by Rohit Doel, whose poem and essay on disability justice push us to listen more deeply, to expand our definition of community care. Our Poet’s Corner highlights Terrance Hayes’ “The Same City,” and Mikaela Brewer brings us into the world of social support with a short story about calling 211, asking what trust in community looks like when it’s tested. Plus, we offer a collaborative gift guide from our team—because hope and joy can also taste like a good meal, or arrive as a small, thoughtful gesture.

Lastly, we're excited to be offering our very first essay contest. If you're hoping to submit over the holidays before our January 6th deadline, check out the recording and resource packet from our writing workshop, here.

As we close out another year, we’re not chasing perfection. We’re choosing presence: with ourselves, with each other, and with the complicated realities shaping our world. Whether your holidays are joyful, heavy, chaotic, beautifully quiet, or even all those things at different points, we’re grateful to be there with you on your journey.

Here’s to truth, peace, and possibility!

— Gillian Smith-Clark

Editor in Chief, The 44 North Media

Artist Spotlight: Extended Mic

by Mikaela Brewer, ​for The 44 North

Senior Editor

Green Extended Mic Logo

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“I remember, when I was younger, I would dream about having a megaphone. In the dream, I’d be speaking to everyone—setting everyone free. I just love that; telling everyone things to encourage them to rebel. I feel like poetry is that. The poems that I want to include in Extended Mic will be, of course, meaningful, and they’ll have to speak to people and say something.”

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Editor's Note: A few weeks ago, on October 27th, I was catching up on emails and messages. I’d just had all four wisdom teeth removed a few days prior, and debated whether or not to venture into Instagram. For some reason, I decided to check, and in my DMs was a message from Extended Mic’s founder, Mariana, inviting me to a Season 1 launch event. It was that evening, so I couldn’t attend, but a door had been opened…

I soon learned that Extended Mic fosters an editorial production where spoken word poets put everything on the line; they redefine poetry in a way that’s never been seen. Mariana and I began chatting, and I knew Extended Mic would be a perfect fit for our December Artist Spotlight. We decided to record the spotlight in person, in Toronto. After meeting for coffee and realizing we shared many artistic and poetic ideas, interests, and passions, we captured the honest, authentic, and poet-centred interview you see below. 

I dearly hope you enjoy the video and written versions of our conversation as much as we did. 

Before we begin, let’s take a moment to spotlight Extended Mic’s Season 1 Poets and their stunning poetry.

Extended Mic Season 1 Poets Spotlight

The Extended Mic Season 1 Poets

Chris Ferreiras

“Protect What I Want From Me” is an expansive excavation of desire as hunger—as it both lives within and is imposed upon us. Chris weaves through feelings of guilt, longing to never need again, our inability to put out the internal fire of want, and the awareness that one of the oldest ways to meet need—to at least appease a void—is to write a poem. 

Protect What I Want From Me

Chris Ferreiras is an artist, author and poet with a magic for depth and universal truths. His words show you the secrets of the world. Chris is an established poet with a published book, “The Sun Underground & All The Colours In Between,” and a clothing collection, ‘Salt Into Gold’. 

Andrea Josic

“On Queer Platonic Love” is a generous guide to redefining platonic love: building a practice and commitment to making love with one another, like finding water in a desert. Andrea beautifully braids together trust, loneliness, conditionless touch, and grounding our humanness as love—as home.

On Queer Platonic Love

Andrea, poet laureate (2024–2026), is a writer, an award-winning poet (2019, 2020), performer, journalist, arts educator, and creative who makes space for belonging, mental health, and healing.

Andrea offers a variety of services, including performances, workshops, copywriting and editing, journalism, commissions, and 1-on-1 coaching.

Sincerelytg

“Meet Me Half Way” is a searing portrait of how someone we love can exploit our desires, needs, and care by hiding behind their wounds—in the real and metaphorical dark. Tasha places this truth in conversation with the plea to be, at least, met halfway—to be seen, held, and accepted for the wounds we carry into and through relationships.

Meet Me Half Way

Tasha is a poet with recent involvement in the sea of words. Her poetry speaks to all hearts, focusing deeply on love, self-love, and the intricacies of being a human. Tasha’s debut happened at an art event, 'Sometimes I Think Too Much,' in December of 2024, where she stepped into the world of Spoken Word for the first time.

Hannah Flores

“Sorry for the Smoke” shares a breathtaking story of the roots and impacts of climate change, particularly on the body, centring those most impacted by its wake of violence. Through the metaphor and imagery of smoking, Hannah’s poem shifts from ‘you’ to ‘we,’ emphasizing collective responsibility while peeling away the blame often placed on how people survive climate catastrophe. 

Sorry For The Smoke

Hannah Flores is an award-winning poet, biologist, and storyteller. Hannah is the rare bridge between the empirical and the magical, with honourable mentions in both Art and Science. She is the top 25 under 25 environmentalists and a 2023 BeSpatial Ontario Student Award Winner. She holds countless features across Raptors, FIFA, Dove, TED and many, many more local platforms.

kaswithlove

“out west” invites us to stand strong within our stories and truly feel the coexistence of empowerment and lingering fears of unworthiness. The poem takes on a road trip that finds reasons to live, chasing hope that we can’t always feel or see in the wake of memory, scars, and rage. kawwithlove offers life with the beautiful juxtaposition of love, protest, community, and dreaming.

out west

kaswithlove is a poet and writer based in Toronto. kaswithlove encompasses a published book, realizations; custom poetry at poesy.ca on an old typewriter; and poetry events at poetrydecoded.to, a core poetry/art organization in Toronto where he co-creates and curates events and workshops.

Poettray 

“P.B.U.Y” is an unflinching, thoughtful reminder that colonial, performative peace is often conflated with safety and liberation (as Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) once said). Using rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and pacing, Poettray further reminds us that lived experiences in the Black community—particularly painful ones—are often assumed, tokenized, and exploited in non-profit and policy spaces. “P.B.U.Y” speaks a vital truth: safe spaces and people aren’t something we claim, but earn through care as action.

P.B.U.Y

Tray is a poet deeply involved in all aspects of life. His work ranges from fundamental Spoken Word performances across Toronto to facilitating workshops such as “The Healing Verse” and “Where Water Meets Stone.” He is the founder of a community to empower black men to break cycles @hoodman2manhood and Raps songs such as “Time & Space” ft Kinkade.

Nomo

“Let's Talk About Us” is sharp, witty, and musically layered verse that confidently questions and reclaims the language men weaponize to impose control, expectation, and superiority on women in relationships. With repeating melodies and intentionally chosen words, Nomo truly does talk about—and speak to—all of us. 

Let's Talk About Us

Nomo has a talent for incorporating rhymes and melody in her poetry, which carries you away along the path her voice paves (you learn a lesson while you’re at it, too). Her work is often found in poetry and art events around the city of Toronto. 

Molly Cole

“That Look In Your Eye” explores how desire can feel raw outside of our control. Alongside this, Molly asks us to question how we might locate desire by looking into our own eyes. Incorporating cinematic storytelling, “That Look In Your Eye” shows us how to see desire directed inward, feel it, and cross rivers to one day love its reflection. 

That Look In Your Eye

Molly is a writer, filmmaker and artist. She likes to explore the world, question the unquestionable, and her work is about connecting to our oneness as humans and the magic of life. She explores topics with reflection, philosophy and most importantly, play.

Interview

Transcript lightly edited for flow & clarity

44N: Hi! I’m Mikaela with The 44 North Magazine. I'm our senior editor, and we’re a magazine that focuses on social issues that matter to our audience. We go about that through art, essays, and featuring incredible work by artists such as Mariana with Extended Mic. Mariana, I'm very grateful to be chatting with you today. 

EM: Well, thank you for having me. 

44N: Wonderful. So, just to jump right in: You noted many times that—and I'll quote you from your website—“For the longest time, music, photography, film and paintings have easily gained attention as the world modernizes the way we consume art. And you’ve said that poetry, however, has always been confined to a book, text, or photo.” I would love it if you could share a bit more about your poetry journey, discovering poetry’s profound impact on people’s lives, and how you discovered that people love this art form, but maybe lack exposure to it.

EM: I started my poetry journey—which ties to Poesy who [Extended Mic] is partnering with—writing poems for people. I write poetry on the spot, on a typewriter. And every time I write a poem for someone, they’re impressed and touched by words and by poetry itself.

Every time I present poetry to someone, it would make them happy—they would resonate with it. So I realized that people really do like poetry. It's just that there aren’t enough spaces for poetry to be introduced to people who aren’t connected to the artistic world in the same way they are with music, painting, photography, and film. All of these feel more present in people’s lives. And poetry isn’t, as much, because many don't have or can’t take the time to pick up a book, open it, and read it, you know?

So I wanted to present poetry in a fun, different way that hasn’t been seen before. So that's where Extended Mic was born. 

44N: I love that. You're meeting people where they're at with a form that they maybe don't have access to. That connects wonderfully to the guiding image and visual identity that you’ve created for Extended Mic, which is a key poetic device in and of itself. I would love for you to share a bit more about that image and how you came to it. 

EM: Extended Mic is supposed to be, or is, very funky. It’s very colourful, eye-catching, and visually pleasing. I originally got the idea for a platform like this after watching The Colors Show. I was thinking it would be nice to feature a poet sharing their poem in a setting that’s pleasing, satisfying, minimalistic, but also kind of weird. So I think the weirdness and coolness of Extended Mic comes from a balance of funky, colorful, and minimalistic. I wanted to make it eye-catching. That's where the essence of the visual aspect of Extended Mic comes from. 

44N: That's beautiful. And it speaks to what it means to be a poet, too. All those different things coexist. Leading into this season—this very first season of extended Mic—you have eight videos featuring eight poets, and you said that your aim is to make people look, maybe even (hopefully) twice. And I'd love for you to tell us a bit more about this approach and how our first two questions lend to the choices you made.

EM: Yes. The point was to avoid presenting poetry in a video with nothing else. Poetry is a cool form of art, but one that people usually don't see the “coolness” of because the great poets—who paved the way for us—are poets from a long time ago.

They also have a different style. Nowadays, you don't really see modern poets. You might read them, but you don't know what they look like—you don't know their artistic aesthetic. You don't have a sense of the visual—everything that accompanies who an artist is, you know? That's something we built into Extended Mic: it’s not just a video, but something eye-catching to allow you to notice us.

If the words that we're saying aren’t making you look, then we’ll add another element that will so you’ll be interested in what we have to say. Because poets have a lot of things to say that people love, but there's not always [something visually] engaging in poetry. I'm not saying that there's nothing engaging in poetry, but there's something else that I feel called to that’s not on paper or words. That's why Daniella and I had the idea of poets laying down under a curtain with the mic hanging—maybe that’s weird enough to cause curiosity. I feel like curiosity is the right word. That’s what we're looking for. 

44N: Oh, I love that. And it brings to mind for me, “Show, don't tell.” So when we say in poetry, “Show, don't tell” you're bringing that to life with a whole other layer, which is beautiful. And segueing a little bit into your first season with all of these poets, you have eight—as you described—unapologetic, bold, free-thinking poets, of course with exceptional craft and performance skills like you were mentioning. So I'd love it if you would tell us a little more about them and the unique journey that you've been on together to build Season 1.

EM: The poets are the key to everything. Each poet we have for Season 1 is amazing, and [looks at camera] I love you guys so much. Each of them has a very different personality. They also all come from different backgrounds in art. Extended Mic is such a particular project with such a particular visual aspect, including being filmed. Many poets don't share their work in open mics, poetry slam competitions, or music videos, and even if they do, actually being in a video production—being comfortable with being in front of the camera—is new for them. So one thing that was key in choosing poets for Season 1 was just people who were very bold and like you said, unapologetic.

If the poets have one thing in common, it’s that they have the quirkiness and personality to be in front of a camera on a weird set. I'm thankful that I'm not one of the poets because I don't think I would be able to do that! But they did. They were able to be on that set—as uncomfortable and weird as it looks—and pull it off. They are the nicest people on the planet. Being the first season with a completely new approach—and me not having serious experience in producing—they understood the idea right away. This project is for the poets, and it's going to keep going for as many poets as I can bring in. I just want to show people how cool poets are.

44N: You’re offering such a wonderful opportunity to work that maybe wouldn't be seen visually to be seen. And you're right: poets are so often gate kept in a book. Not that books aren't great. We love books. But you're just adding another layer to reach people, which is wonderful. And speaking of that production process, you were talking about taking the poets through promo videos, photo shoots, filming, creative collaboration, social media, and all of those elements. Could you tell us about the magic of Extended Mic's creative ecosystem and what that looked like on the backside? 

EM: In this project, the journey was very long because I didn't want to invite the poets to a studio once, record the videos, and that's all. I wanted to honour quality. So with my resources, I brought everything in that I could to fit the standards we set when we created this project. 

The first thing was meeting everyone, then it was taking them to the photo studio for photo shoots. Afterwards, we recorded the audio of the poems in a music studio. And then, we recorded the videos. We also shot something else that will be coming out soon. So you’ll see it! It's a journey that the poets and I went through together. But I think this comes from wanting to do it well and honour what the project requires.

44N: Such an important process. So much energy and time goes into it and I'm sure you have dreams of expanding beyond what you have for Season 1. You've written that your goals are to film in studios with poets across the world, continuing to disrupt traditional poetry formats—

EM: [Laughs] I was just thinking that I wrote that when I was so excited to do this, and I actually forgot that I wanted to do it across the world. I do want to, and it’s wonderful to remember that. 

44N: I love giving energy to an old dream! And I know you hope to bring new perspectives through this high quality visual experience. You said, “Featuring meaningful poems that rebel against shallow art,” which is so well said. What can the poetry community (and beyond) look forward to next, outside of your seasons? 

EM: The end goal is still to take Extended Mic across the world, because I feel it’s a project that I'm going to do for the rest of my life. So if I do it for the rest of my life, eventually I will want to cover more than just the place where I live.

In the future, it will be fun to discover poets and more meaningful poetry across the world. There's so much that poets can say outside of traditional topics. There's nothing wrong with these, I just want change. 

I remember, when I was younger, I would dream about having a megaphone. In the dream, I’d be speaking to everyone—setting everyone free. I just love that; telling everyone things to encourage them to rebel.

I feel like poetry is that. The poems that I want to include in Extended Mic will be, of course, meaningful, and they’ll have to speak to people and say something. 

Season 1 is still breathing, and it's going to be alive for some time. But yes, for the poetry community, at least in Toronto, you can expect a second season and a third and a fourth and so on.

44N: So exciting. And I'm hearing Extended Mic as a megaphone?

EM: You know what? Extended Mic came from the idea of having a really long mic cord on set. In the end, we didn't go for that, at least not for Season 1, but for Season 2, hopefully.

44N: A fantastic segue into our very last question. Season 1 launched! It's out—everybody can watch it and listen to it. And you had a kickoff event in October, recently on the 27th, after a year of such hard and thoughtful creative work. It featured a screening of Season 1 and opportunities to gather with other poets in the Toronto poetry community. And I would love it if you could give a recap of the event, the vibe, and just make everybody more excited. 

EM: The event was amazing. It was everything that I could have imagined and dreamed of—even more. The purpose was accomplished, which was essentially to create and feed community in the city. The event did exactly that. Everyone was super nice. Everyone was super happy. We screened the poems and people were engaging with them.

The number one reason why I wanted to do an event was to honour the poets (and the project). So I put together a mini gallery, spotlighting photos of the whole process that we went through. I also created a set design and other things like that.

This event really opened doors for me into what's possible and what people really enjoy, which at the end of the day, is being in community and being supportive of something.

With the event, we sent the videos and poems off, essentially saying, “This is yours now.” I can't wait to do it all over again. 

44N: So good to hear. It's always so wonderful to be in community with other poets and to be surrounded by art in general—something that so many people have worked hard on. To have it all come together is a gift to the community in such a beautiful way because it's so accessible. 

It's on YouTube. Is there any other way that you would want to share for folks to engage with it? 

EM: Yes, you can watch all eight videos on Extended Mic’s YouTube. As the YouTubers say, you can subscribe, like, comment, and share! I'm going to be posting clips on our Instagram, but the full videos are on YouTube. 

44N: So wonderful to chat with you. We're honored at The 44 North, and excited to have Mariana and Extended Mic as our Artist Spotlight for this issue. Definitely check out the written and video version of this conversation. Thank you so much.

EM: Thank you!