(From my zine, Aftermath. Made with support from ArtsNB and the Snail Mail Club! Thank you!)

Small Disruption After the Event Even after yesterday, the garbage truck still came, the kettle still boiled in the exact same way with the same whistle, and the book club still met, even after the events of yesterday. We had been dreading the day for months. And when it finally happened, it was just as bad as we’d imagined. And we knew the consequences would be far-reaching and long-lasting, taking decades to recover if, in fact, recovery follows this disaster and not another. But then, today, this morning, the garbage truck still came, offering no explanation, and the kettle still boiled in the exact same way.

Pencil drawing of a tree growing around a fence.

the kettle still boiled in the exact same way

Stacks of zines on a table.

The Zine Explosion, April 18th, 2026, 2535 Robie Street, All Nations Church, 10 am to 4 pm. Free Entry: Bring cash for the many local vendors. Hepa filtration and masks provided.

I’ll be at Zine Explosion in Halifax tomorrow! 10-4 at the All Nations Church, 2535 Robie street!

(Made with support from ArtsNB and the Snail Mail Club on Patreon! Thank you!)

Small Collection of Past Mistakes Today, I glued back together all the little things we’ve broken. I’ve been keeping them in a box for a day like today, quietly amassing this sad army of maimed figurines and fractured plates. Little things. All it takes to make something shatter is a moment’s miscalculation, a single careless gesture. But I saved our mistakes, shelved them like preserves, squirrelled them away like nuts for the winter, and today, one by one, slowly, deliberately I pieced them back together.

Drawing in pencil of a flooded street and a sign that reads: "Road Closed. Detour."

Another poem from my new zine, Aftermath.

A hand holds a little die-cut sticker of a black cat drawn in coloured pencil.

A hand holds up a zine with the title "Spell for the End of the World."

A hand holds up a zine with the title "Spell for Spotting Invisible Things."

A hand holds a zine open to a page with pencil crayon drawings of tansy in bloom. Handwritten text reads, "I say: I see you. I see you now."

More new stock at Living Things Arts Collective! Including these little cat stickers that I also sent out to the Snail Mail Club recently and some newly reprinted zines.

(Made with support from ArtsNB and the Snail Mail Club on Patreon. Thank you!)

Small Encounter with an Ongoing Storm We are planting trees where a lawn used to be, where someone with a ride-on lawn-mower used to be paid to come by and mow it. Along the highway, you can still see where the hurricane last fall snapped all the trees like matches or bones and who knows how long before another record storm moves in to mow these new trees down too. But still, we plant them.

Remember how we stayed up all night with the cat and the radio, playing board games at the kitchen table like some sort of exorcism or vigil to keep out the wind and the rain as it battered the windows. In the morning, we woke in a heap on the living room floor to find we had been very lucky. In Newfoundland, a whole house had been swept into the sea, which seemed like something we couldn’t even conceive of, until wildfires this spring took a hundred and fifty.

And still, we settle in. We learn how to put up bookshelves, hang our postcards on the fridge, build raised beds for veggies, make plans to paint the kitchen cabinets, we read up on types of primers and flip through sunny paint chips, as if we will be allowed to stay.

A poem from my new zine, Aftermath.

1. Tantramar’s Poetry Contest Submit by Monday, April 6th Poets of all ages are invited to submit their poems to Tantramar’s annual Poetry Contest. Find more information at tantramarnb.com/programs. 2. Dorchester Poets Circle Tuesday, April 7th, 7:00 pm Station 8, 8 Station Road, Dorchester, NB A casual event to read, listen to, and discuss poetry. There will be coffee, tea, and snacks and comfy couches. Everyone is welcome. This event is free to attend, but cash and food donations will be accepted for the Station 8 community fridge. 3. Writers’ Open Mic Sunday, April 26th, 3:00 - 4:00 pm Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Activity Centre, 70 Main Street, Sackville, NB A free event for writers of all ages and kinds. Come to share your work or just come to listen. All are welcome. 4. An Evening of Poetry in the Municipal Council Chambers Tuesday, April 28th, 6:00 pm All are invited to an evening of poetry in the Municipal Council Chambers, including readings from local poets, the launch of the third annual Poets of Tantramar chapbook, and the announcement of the winners of Tantramar’s Poetry Contest. 5. Book Club at the Sackville Public Library Tuesday, May 5th, 6:00 - 7:00 pm The Adult Book Club will be reading So Imagine Me by Lynn Davies. Books can be picked up in advance at the front desk.

It's Poetry Month! 🌷 Here's the full schedule of poetry-related events taking place in Tantramar this April.

(Thanks so much to ArtsNB and my patrons on patreon for supporting this project!)

A hand holds up a zine with a drawing of potted bulbs sprouting but not flowering yet and hand-lettered text that reads: "Aftermath."

A hand holds the zine open to the title page with the same pencil drawing of potted bulbs, this time in black and white, and hand-lettered text that reads: "Aftermath. Laura K. Watson." The facing inside cover is olive green.

A hand holds the zine open to a page with a hand-lettered poem called: "Small Collection of Past Mistakes." The body of the poem is not really legible. On the opposite page is a drawing in pencil of a flooded street, with a slightly decrepit building, a telephone poll, power lines, and a sign that reads: "Road Closed. Detour."

My new poetry zine is finally done and back from the printer!

This guy has been in the works for a few years now and I am so happy/relieved that it is finally out here in the world.

If you want to grab a copy, it's available on my website and also at Living Things Arts Collective in Sackville.

Writers' Open Mic. Sunday, February 22nd, 3:00-4:30 pm. Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Activity Centre, 70 Main Street, Sackville, NB. A free monthly even for writers of all ages, genres, and backgrounds.

Tomorrow!

An illustration in pencil of a slightly weathered shed sitting under two very tall, old trees. Maple maybe. It's early spring so the leaves aren't on the trees yet.

It's been a while but I might actually have a new poetry zine to share soon and I am very excited about it. Here's a drawing of a nice shed.

Sticker sheets with swans, flowers, and stars.

Prints with flowers drawn in pencil crayon.

Hand-dyed silk shirts and a knit scarf, made by Alana Morouney/Slowpony.

Dried bouquets of gomphrena by Meadowsweet Gardens.

Dropped off some new stock at Living Things Arts Collective yesterday! There are so many great things in the shop right now!

Digital print featuring an illustration of daisies in bloom and hand-written lines of poetry that read: "I let them go to seed, and I never pulled the weeds." Drawn in pencil and coloured pencil.

Digital print featuring an illustration of a barn that has seen better days and hand-written text that reads: "I am always saying goodbye too soon. Goodbye to this day, this week, this season. Goodbye to the purple asters only just now beginning to unfurl. Goodbye to this moment in bloom." Drawn in pencil and coloured pencil.

Digital print featuring an illustration of crocuses peeking through the dirt in the garden in early spring and hand-written lines of poetry that read: "I keep a list of other periods in history when surely the world seemed ready to end. And maybe even did. But then new worlds started." Drawn in pencil and coloured pencil.

Digital print featuring an illustration of flowers in a garden in summer and hand-written lines of poetry that read: "Is planting a prophesy? Or simply a labour? Generations of observation distilled into a magic spell that tells me how to get flowers." Drawn in pencil and coloured pencil.

Made some 8" x 10" prints out of illustrations from my 2026 calendar. If there's others you want to see as prints, let me know! These are now on my online store!

A 4" x 6" sticker sheet featuring super cute stickers of swans, daisies, rudbeckia, and tiny stars, hand-drawn in pencil and pencil crayon.

New stickers!

I sent these to the Snail Mail Club last month but they are also now on my online store!

NB POWER PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSION - SACKVILLE Location: Crabtree Auditorium, Mount Allison University – Room M14 Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2026 Doors Open: 6:15 p.m. Session Time: 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. Format: 15-minute NB Power presentation followed by an extended public Question & Answer period.

TANTRAMAR GAS PLANT COMMUNITY INFORMATION SESSION - MONCTON Location: Centennial Park Rotary Lodge - 125 Rotary Lodge Lane Date: Saturday, January 17th, 2026 Time: 2:00 - 4:00 pm

New Brunswick friends! Help us stop the Tantramar Gas Plant!

There are information sessions happening this week in Sackville and Moncton.

Sign the letter campaign here: win.newmode.net/protectthech...

Front cover of my 2026 calendar featuring a drawing of daisies in pencil crayon.

Calendar open to November featuring a drawing of an old stone building and power lines and pigeons flying.

Calendar open to September featuring a drawing of a collapsing barn and a field, drawn in pencil crayon.

I've only got about 30 copies of my 2026 calendars left and I'll be closing my online store for the holidays this Saturday!

(I've also got a few copies available that arrived from the printer without a hole for hanging, which could be for you if you are someone that loves a discount!)

BEARDSLEY GRANGE CHRISTMAS MARKET 11:00 am - 7:00 pm, November 29th 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, November 30th Beardsley Grange, 388 Queens Road, Sackville, NB SIMPLE BOOK-BINDING WORKSHOP 5:30 -6:30 pm, December 4th Dorchester Memorial Public Library, 3516 Cape Road, Dorchester, NB
 WRITERS’ OPEN MIC 3:00 - 4:00 pm, December 7th Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Activity Centre, 70 Main Street, Sackville, NB
 B HOME HOLIDAY MARKET 9:00 am - 3:00 pm, December 13th B Home, 333 St. George Street, Moncton, NB

Events coming up in the next few weeks!

In a corner of a gallery space, someone sits reading a zine in a well-worn armchair with a floral pattern. On the wall beside them, there's two small shelves filled with zines.

I have work in this beautiful show at the @owensartgallery.bsky.social alongside a bunch of incredible artists whose work I've admired for a long time and I'm pretty excited about it! The show is up until Dec. 14th and, like everything at the Owens, it's free to attend!

(Photo by Rodger J. Smith)

Wednesday, November 12th, 7pm all welcome STRUTS GALLERY! SWAP MEET INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING round table!

Sackville friends! I'll be part of this round table on independent publishing tomorrow along with a bunch of incredible zine-makers, small-press publishers, and other book people! Hope you can make it!

UPCOMING MARKETS NIGHTMARE MARKET 12:00 - 6:00 pm, Saturday, November 1st Nightmare on Kill’em Drive Roller Derby, Moncton Coliseum, 377 Killam Drive, Moncton, NB CHARLOTTETOWN ZINE FEST 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Saturday, November 8th Charlottetown Library Learning Centre, 97 Queen Street, Charlottetown, PE
 LADY SMITH MANOR CHRISTMAS MARKET 11:00 am - 7:00 pm, Saturday, November 15th and 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday, November 16th Lady Smith Manor, 22 Woodlawn Road, Dorchester, NB
 HEART & POCKET REVUE 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Saturday, November 22nd Sackville Legion, 15 Lorne Street, Sackville, NB TRUEMAN FARMS CHRISTMAS MARKET 11:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday, November 23rd Trueman Blueberry Farms, 255 Etter Ridge Road, Aulac, NB

Events in the next few weeks!

Drawing in pencil crayon of an old stone building that's probably a church with power lines and pigeons in the sky above it and handwritten text that reads: "We're casting spells, casting shadows. We are casting a wide net. We're making something out of nothing, making do, making amends."

November in my 2026 calendar!

Love this one!

WRITERS' OPEN MIC Sunday, October 26th 3:00 - 4:00 pm Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Activity Centre 70 Main Street, Sackville, NB A free, monthly event for writers of all ages, genres, and backgrounds. Come out to share your work or just come to listen. All are welcome.

POETRY READING! Andrés Urzúa de la Sotta All the way from Limache, Chile! Andrés is a poet, published, and arts organizer. He will read from The Language of Stones, published by Sackville's own Hardscrabble Press. With Special Guests: Geordie Miller and Laura Watson Sunday, October 26th 7:30 pm The Arts Collective 25 Lorne Street, Sackville, NB

There is a lot happening poetry-wise in Sackville this Sunday!

The Writers' Open Mic is at 3:00 then there's a special reading from visiting poet, Andrés Urzúa de la Sotta at 7:30! Hope you can make it!

Drawings in pencil crayon of flowers in bloom, including coneflowers, rudbeckia, and foxglove. Handwritten text reads: "Is planting a prophecy? Or simply a labour? Generations of observation distilled into a magic spell that tells me how to get flowers."

July in my 2026 calendar!

WRITERS' OPEN MIC Sunday, October 26th 3:00 - 4:00 PM Bill Johnstone Memorial Park Centre 70 Main Street, Sackville, NB A free monthly event for writers of all ages, genres, and backgrounds.

The October Writers' Open Mic is coming up this Sunday!

As always, this event is free and open to all ages as well as all genres. Come with a poem, a story, a song, a monologue, an essay, or a comic to share. Or just come to listen.

Drawing in pencil and pencil crayon of a black cat perched on a fence below a flowering vine. Handwritten text reads: "Working on my languages. Do I speak yours yet?"

May in my 2026 calendar!

Drawing in pencil crayon of a cat looking out a window surrounded by house plants. Out the window, there's a loose outline of a winter landscape. Handwritten text reads: "We set up camp in our bedrooms and kitchens. We huddle around the kettle as the cold closes in. And as the walls inch inwards, we tell our own fortunes, detail our grand, expansive futures."

January in my 2026 calendar!

Drawing in pencil crayon of a snowy field marked with footprints and four figures moving through it. Handwritten text reads: "like a fresh sheet of paper, like a thick coat of ash."

February in my 2026 calendar!