Jessica Lee McMillan

@jessicaleemcmillan.com

633 Followers 591 Following

Poet, civil servant, music nerd | CV2, Malahat Review, QWERTY, ROOM, Crab Creek Review, The New Quarterly & others. jessicaleemcmillan.com đ˜Žđ˜©đ˜Ș𝘯𝘩 𝘭đ˜Ș𝘬𝘩 𝘱 đ˜„đ˜Ș𝘼𝘩 đ˜Ș𝘯 đ˜”đ˜©đ˜Š đ˜„đ˜Șđ˜łđ˜” đ˜¶đ˜Żđ˜„đ˜Šđ˜ł đ˜”đ˜©đ˜Š 𝘼𝘰𝘰𝘯 (Pinhole Poetry) https://pinholepoetry.ca/product/shine-like-a-dime/

In It Honestly I want less to do with my body but the body has a poem I want (poem is rubber stamped on beige, toothy paper).
Sketch of man on bend in rain with poem under: Central Park, 9 a.m. Dear Diary: In the green of spring and the rain (of a sudden) the watercolor walkers running for cover one man lay down his green brief- case stretched on a bench his tongue thrust out now and tasted the rain - Rolli
Still Alouette River with large rock on right.
Event poster with ivory background, curvilinear border with simple flower illustrations on each side of chapbook cover. Chapbook, “Fists You’ve Called Home” is image of beaten-up sideboards of hockey rink. TEXT: CHAPBOOK LAUNCH "FISTS YOU'VE CALLED HOME" BY ANDREW FRENCH FEATURING GUEST READERS AIDAN CHAFE, LAUREN PEAT, AND NATALIE LIM 7PM, JUNE 27TH CROSS & CROWS BOOKS 2836 COMMERCIAL DRIVE, VANCOUVER
ORINOCO by Jessica Lee McMillan dad cranked it loud enough for the synthesizer to wrap around the chassis of our Astrovan resonating in 4 ribcages arpeggios I'd try on my Casio SK-1 like Enya on her Roland Juno-60. and that day driving to the library event advertising a hot air balloon Orinoco Flow lifted us up like the new car smell. it had a tenor, spacious as our hope and dad, who'd as soon play Neil Young or The Cult, was never too cool for tunes he liked. I could never read his tastes by his stern German profile and the changing genres of his beard but I caught a glimpse of him when his voice merged with the chords ebbing from the cassette —sonorous as the word Orinoco— then out the driver's window over his one, tanned arm. at the last haunt of D sharp, he cued it up again despite the van's fated repo ahead. I couldn't decide if I was embarrassed or proud. arriving late, we never sailed away but the ride that day felt like flight.
Event poster with purple fleck background and diffude rainbows over black & white stippled image of hand holding old-fashined mic. Text: SAPP x moodswing FEATURING AARON HUNTER WITH HOST JENNY GARCHA open mic FRIDAY, JUNE 19 6PM SIGN UP STARTS-5:30 655 FRONT STREET MOODSWING COFFEE
Event poster with a simple, cream background and illustrated swirling patterns. Hosts photos are near centre of poster: JĂłnĂ­na Kirton on the left and Cecily Nicholson on the right. TEXT: reading circle Saturday June 13, 1-3pm hosted by JĂłnĂ­na Kirton & Cecily Nicholson Bring a poem to share or just drop in to listen and visit. Free, everyone is welcome. Masks are encouraged. Books available for purchase. Wildfires Literary Lounge 712A 12th Street, New
Animated section of The Misfits, rival band of Jem & the Holograms. Three band members are singing in unison with loud clothes and colourful lion’s mane hair a la ‘80s. Caption above is a line from their song “We are the Misfits, our songs are better”.
THE LIGHTING SHOWROOM AT IKEA we don’t have the pendant that looks like the Death Star or smart lighting solutions that bleach the retinas like the time I looked up at the glaring orbs and a migraine robbed me of vision—unable to drive home— my eyes, a galaxy of suns there are things we are meant to see in the half-light —given the sun or bulb’s inevitable fate— like Vancouver’s greyscape or the nectar of falling day —we are meant to see dark corners that gesture to invisible life
Excerpt from Wayson Choy’s novel The Jade Peony pg 158 If visions and good sense didn't combine to make us pay atten- tion, what then was the meaning of anything? Grandmama would have understood perfectly: signs and portents were her lifeblood. She had always said t o her friend Mrs. Lim, "You only need to pay attention."
Shore By Thomas Doerksen What did I want from this short life. In the middle now. I have loved the sea when she is angry. Always I have run her shore when she is angry. What did I want. From poetry. From philosophy’s premature decisions. See how things go silent on the shore. I loved you I loved you, sea. I will die. I will leave only a few scraps.
Photo of Lowell George’s “thanks I’ll eat here” album cover resting on reflective dust cover of turntable in motion. Cover art is by Neon Park-and features George in a painterly style with the background, a spoof of Edouard Manet’s The Luncheon n the Grass with central figures replaced by Bob Dylan and Fidel Castro
Blue poster with title Chapbook Launch in capitals and a picture of author’s chapbook on the right (a cyanotype of leaves and a dime) and the following text: Royal City Literary Arts Society / Pinhole Poetry CHAPBOOKLAUNCH Jessica Lee McMillan will read from her new chapbook SHINE LIKE A DIME IN THE DIRT UNDER THE MOON at the Anvil Centre Studio 417, 4th floor 777 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC APRIL 24, 2026 6:30 - 8PM with special guests Janet Kvammen, Aidan Chafe, Dale Tracy & Winston LĂȘ Copies will be for sale at the event The organizers acknowledge the League of Canadian Poets, the Canada Council for the Arts & the Department of Canadian Heritage for their financial support. poets.ca
Shepherd-Husky cross lying on tiled patio—feet on mat-- next to Japanese maple in blue pot.
Photo of office with wooden desk with burnt orange chair sandwiched between bookshelf and teak cabinet. Wall has photos, framed art, plaque, calendar, etc. Desk has Apple computer (with word program hidden!) paper, glasses, pen, book, recipe card, fizzy water.
Spongebob Squarepants (a yellow sea sponge character in a white shire, tie, & tan breeches) swaying hips side to side, bright eyed, with caption “I’m ready”.
Two books and bookmark (with Wildfires Bookshop logo) on wooden table. Book on left is hardcover with white sleeve and circular graphic image. Title is: The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie by Chandra Prescod-Weinstein. Book on right is burnt orange paperback. Title is stylized in lower case: it’s only forever. labyrinth. By jes battis.
Cover for Qwerty Pearl: The Best of Qwerty Magazine—Part II, 2011-2025 Edited by Jamie Kitts et al. resting on wooden desk. Cover is a patchwork of covers in an amber sepia filter.
Tracksuit Mafia from Hawkeye standing in front of green truck with “Trust a Bro” logo.
Earthy green and yellow poster with diffuse topographical map and Land & Sea logo with compass on upper left corner and QR code in upper right. Text: NATIONAL POETRY MONTH LE MOIS NATIONAL DE LA POÉSIE ORGANIZED BY THE LEAGUE OF CANADIAN POETS ORGANISÉ PAR LA LIGUE DES POÈTES CANADIENS PRESENTED WITH / PRÉSENTÉ AVEC NATIVE WOMEN IN THE ARTS ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL CONSEIL DES ARTS DE L'ONTARIO Canada Council Conseil des arts TORONTO ARTS_ COUNCIL Canada
August 25, Third Beach by Jessica McMillan the peninsula spins evergreen aroma braiding Pacific current and mountain breeze dressing down to cherry trees stretched in whitewashed sky framing the cliff, their limbs the saviours of naked space. the forest in the city, cool with ancient boulders anchors cedar heavens dangling sunned silk dusted with leaf dander. from bedrock to soil alights dandelion seeds, filaments of ecstasy flicker among White Cabbage wings and tiers of bleeding hearts drip petal fat, soapy as the sea-foam at the shore sluicing across waves of sienna green, belly rolling crab exoskeletons back up to mossy sandstone. seagulls echo the granite seawall rimmed with weekend bathers warming skin and you are on my hip in a bucket hat collecting a minute of mirth, making seaweed bracelets in the name of today, which is praise for all we truly need. Copyright © Jessica McMillan Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet and civil servant with recent/forthcoming work in CV2, The Malahat Review, Canadian Literature and others. Her chapbook Shine Like a Dime in the Dirt under the Moon is now available via Pinhole Poetry. Jessica lives in New Westminster, BC with her little family and large dog. www.jessicaleemcmillan.com poetry pause
Photo of chapbook. White frame with cyanotype centre image. Image gas white sphere/coin and “ghost impressions” of fallen cedar leaves, clover and flowers. Book title is: shine like a dime in the dirt under the moon by Jessica Lee McMillan
!! DEADLINE EXTENDED !! CANADIAN POETS - Submit your poetry to the 2026 MURIEL’S JOURNEY POETRY PRIZE First Prize $100 First Prize for a poem by a Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) contributor $100 Second Prize $50 Fortuna's Choice Prize $35 for a poem selected at random from the longlist of general entry poems All winners and honorary mentions will be published in Fire In The Heart, the Muriel’s Journey Chapbook for 2026. CRITERIA: Content: Should meet one or more of these criteria: Speak your mind and let the world know what you think, look at your subject in an unexpected way, take a risk in your composition, be frank and unreserved! If the poem has good potential for being performed, all the better. Why these criteria? Because that’s Muriel. She was not only a poet but a Other criteria (not optional!): ‱ Open to Canadians or people living in Canada ‱ Length of the poem: 5 lines or more ‱ Up to 5 poems, with an overall length for all poems together not to exceed 100 lines DEADLINE: April 30, 2026 Submit the poem to murielsjourney@gmail.com Image: Cover of the 2025 chapbook: Purple-hued fist bursting through burning building and surrounding buildings glowing orange and red.
Open Canada Post mailer box with letter resting on lid, letterhead has "rob mclennan” Brown box has dozens of chapbooks and is divided in two sides. On one chap facing down bears above/ground press address, the other chap is face up with an orange cover and a picture of a bearded monkey. Box is resting on a burnt orange chair.
Poster with painterly, meandering river in dark blue over light blue background. Text: SAPP One week left to submit to Issue 4: Waterways Submit by March 31st
Blue poster with title Chapbook Launch in capitals and a picture of author’s chapbook on the right (a cyanotype of leaves and a dime) and the following text: Royal City Literary Arts Society / Pinhole Poetry CHAPBOOKLAUNCH Jessica Lee McMillan will read from her new chapbook SHINE LIKE A DIME IN THE DIRT UNDER THE MOON at the Anvil Centre Studio 417, 4th floor 777 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC APRIL 24, 2026 6:30 - 8PM with special guests Janet Kvammen, Aidan Chafe, Dale Tracy & Winston LĂȘ Copies will be for sale at the event The organizers acknowledge the League of Canadian Poets, the Canada Council for the Arts & the Department of Canadian Heritage for their financial support. poets.ca
Mug shaped like deadly nightshade bottle from Tim Burton‘s Nightmare before Christmas (grey, textured and tapered on top). Book with pen in the background and round soft lamp
IN A FIT OF SADNESS there is no time for tears, there never is; no time for breathing deep. A fit of sadness is like pulling a door that says push, again and again, into eternity; Trapped like cattle on this side of the kissing gate. I too know sadness, know well indeed, our mutual friend, the fog that walks with us. It is a gangrene, the sadness that grows, like long black hair, like vines upon gates: A tree that hides the sun, the rain, from us. “Will the sadness stop?”, I ask, knowing there are no wrong questions, only wrong answers. Someone reading this is sad too, perhaps more than I am and our collective sighs are the sound, the music, the noise of the world.
The Twilight Sad’s Forget the Night Ahead album cover withphotocopy collage of person who hands covering face and a red background. LP is standing on top of reflective turntable cover. Turntable is in motion
Rectangular child’s book titled “Goodnight Goon” in neon green letters. By Michael Rex. Central image is a goblin looking into a castle room writhing with creatures.
Disturbing Church By marilyn letts Little Rose hears about Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial, instead of listening to “Hey Jude” and “Peter Cottontail.” She perches on her seat obediently quiet, occupied, sketching with wax crayons. If you had been there you might have said, Tell me about your drawing. Rose would have shown you red robins building nests in green trees instead of a man dripping blood on a cross. Rose would have told you In the nest the robins will put blue eggs, then—baby robins! Her voice would have struck sunlight through the sombre service.
Hand flipping through chapbook with cyanotype cover and title “shine like a dime in the dirt under the moon”. Book has blue cover and diaphanous paper frontmatter with quote: One more invisible thing, beyond pointing: the fullness of reality itself, which does exist, but can never be seen. There’s too much of it, in too many directions at once. And yet we keep trying to approach it. -Jane Hirshfield Back cover is shown with Pinhole Poetry logo (inverted horizontal fields of vision through the pinhole).
The reality, the depth, and the persistence of the delusion of white supremacy in this country causes any real concept of education to be as remote, and as much to be feared, as change or freedom itself. What black men here have always known is now beginning to be clear all over the world. Whatever it is that white Americans want, it is not freedom—nei-ther for themselves nor for others. It's you who'll have the blues, Langston Hughes said, not me. Just wait and see. Esquire, October 1980
Event poster with a lined-paper background, a portrait of Winston Le--seated--and coloured blocks highlighting key text. RCLAS Writing Workshop "to construe a frankenlang" with Winston LĂȘ Date: Monday MARCH 9, 2026 Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm Location: ANVIL CENTRE | STUDIO 417, 777 Columbia Street, New Westminster. This workshop is Free BUT registration is required. Email secretary@rclas.com Workshop Description: A neologism is a new word or expression, or a new meaning for an existing word. Through this “coinage,” we’ll explore versatility and dynamic innovation of language-making. In this workshop, we will explore how morphology (texture, sound, shape), semiotics (sign-making, interpretation), and re-materiality (physical body/vessel to embody the neologism) can reshape and enhance and expand our lexical innovation onto our babbling world. This will be a workshop on innovative linguistic processes that will lead to the creation of a poem based on your newly-created word. This class will be both lecture and workshop base. We will begin by discussing the varying definitions and elements that make up a neologism, as well as how one might experiment with the concept further... Through three linked generative writing exercises, we will explore a “exquisite corpse” approach in writing a poem based on a neologism and by doing so, destabilize and decolonize the nature of the poem and language itself. We’re going to have fun stitching up some linguistic body horror!"
Soul II Soul LP cover resting atop of reflective turntable cover. Turntable is in motion. Image is tan and black photograph of sharply-dressed dancer in vest, shaved sides of hair with dreads on top raising arm in dance.
Vintage copy of lunch poems by Frank O’Hara on wooden desk. Cover is cerulean blue and orange.
Milton Nascimento’s “Milton” LP featuring artist in striking silhouette illustration with colourful shirt with his first name in red font with blunt geometric shapes. LP is resting on the reflective dust cover of a Technics turntable in motion.
Photo of three books on a wooden desk. Book on left is Edgar Allan Poe’s complete tales and poems, middle book is Marilyn Dumont A Really Good Brown Girl, book on the right is the Lonely Planet guide to The Universe.
Adolescent (Bobby) with dark, spiked hair and leather jacket with spikes sitting on beach surrounded by adult punks. Bobby is holding a credit card.
Stag photographed with wire wrapped around antlers by Tolu Oloruntoba Your modern crown of green fence does make you larger than you were. I too, would like to wear my confinement as antlerpiece, to have discovered the rutting of the green of forest and the eternity of hydrocarbons, to be thus followed by worshipful watchers as I anoint and lift up the twisted child that must inherit all earth. Eido. Lo. Ecce! Note: Poem title is from Bullock, C. (2024, October 1I). Stag photographed with wire wrapped around antlers. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg901kj2neo
Pinhole Poetry Promo slide deck starting with image of three chapbook covers, then each chapbook individially: 1. Top left “Of Rain and Kisses” by Robin Susanto (aqua green water with flower) 2. Top right “A Girl So Easily” by Yvette Lelcair (illustration of vanity, vintage style) 3. Bottom “shine like a dime in the dirt under the moon” by Jessica Lee McMillan (blue cyanotype with leaf imprints and sphere) End text: Order yours today! pinholepoetry.ca
Cartoon character Beavis with blue t-shirt hooded over his head and caption “Are you threatening me?!”
LP cover resting on reflective turntable in play (with mustard yellow inner label). Album is a vintage photo from a boat of Rio De Jeneiro. Various framed portraits rest on the inner bow of the boat. The album is Hidden Waters “Strange and Sublime Sounds for Rio de Janeiro, Mr. Bongo.
Approaching main truss of the Patullo. Empty lanes, some pedestrians and orange girders against blue sky.
New West Pride poster with black background and Pride & trans flag colours for background. Text: If you have trans people in your life, check in with them. If you are trans and you are struggling right now, please know this: You are not alone and you are loved. Trans Lifeline (peer support): 1-877-330-6366 Hold your people close. Be kind to yourselves and each other.
CB Yahoo / Inbox J From: peillaine@yahoo.com To: Jessica Sat, Feb 14 at 9:51 AM Album cover for Charles Bradley’s Victim of Love resting atop a Technics turntable in motion. Album cover is white with Bradley’s profile. Record has a pink inner label.
Memento Mori By Minab Yetbarek (the Schara Tzedeck) Black headstones blossom even in winter like rows of spring buds frozen in the snow on the everyday commute to work— the second third of life beside sleep— in the grave garden from 22nd Street to Edmonds staring back at the skytrain moving, from mundane to mundane and the plot expands every year as the black plaques multiply and the sight bookends each day— passing a cemetery from the sky each way what we were told not to do as children— and the Star of David hangs over it all like a reminder of some evil long ago how death, though in the distance must always be remembered or how some other has died today in some country far away and how powerless one is in the face of cyclic history of black stones blossoming even in winter.
Cyanotype with white sphere/coin and fallen cedar leaves, clover and flowers. Book title is: shine like a dime in the dirt under the moon by Jessica Lee McMillan
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home Craig Raine Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings and some are treasured for their markings-- they cause the eyes to melt or the body to shriek without pain. I have never seen one fly, but sometimes they perch on the hand. Mist is when the sky is tired of flight and rests its soft machine on the ground: then the world is dim and bookish like engravings under tissue paper. Rain is when the earth is television. It has the properites of making colours darker. Model T is a room with the lock inside -- a key is turned to free the world for movement, so quick there is a film to watch for anything missed. But time is tied to the wrist or kept in a box, ticking with impatience. In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps, that snores when you pick it up. If the ghost cries, they carry it to their lips and soothe it to sleep with sounds. And yet, they wake it up deliberately, by tickling with a finger. Only the young are allowed to suffer openly. Adults go to a punishment room with water but nothing to eat. They lock the door and suffer the noises alone. No one is exempt and everyone's pain has a different smell. At night, when all the colours die, they hide in pairs and read about themselves -- in colour, with their eyelids shut.
TV test screen pattern with phrase “Know your rights” in thick, stamped text and International Clash Day, February 6 below.
DVD cover with Donnie Yen in black poised with fists up and a contemplative expression.
Two old black & white photos of owners next to coffee stand on left and new, colour photo of owners on right smiling and holding out coffee cups with signature logo.
Hank Mobley LP cover resting on reflective turntable (in motion). LP cover is yellow & black and features Mobley smoking.
Blue-green, translucent forest spirit growing above the treeline.
SAPP zone poster with undulating lines and a green-blue watery background. Text and additional details: Happy 2026 everyone! With the new year, we’re happy to announce that submissions are officially open for SAPP volume 04! 🎉 Our theme for volume 04 is “waterways.” As water wends its way across the landscape, its flow lends vibrancy to the places and beings it touches. Tell us about the stuff of life, the connections you treasure and the things that bring vibrancy to your life and your community. We’re looking forward to receiving your art, photography, and writing that captures what “waterways” means in your world! Subs open from today (January 5th) to March 31, 2026. We’re accepting submissions for cover art, poetry, art, photography, short form, or hybrid pieces for our third volume. Selected contributors will be paid for their work: $30 per piece and $100 for cover art! SAPP is run entirely by volunteers, so please allow 3-4 months for response time. All funds raised from sales of SAPP go directly towards funding in-person arts events and zine production. Submissions can be sent to editor@sappzine.ca, and you can visit the 🔗 in our bio for more submission details. We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us!
KEXP poster art from 2017 for International Clash Day. Clash logo takes up half the poster in red lettering over baby blue background. Central image is a comic-style rendering of a guitar smashed into the windshield of a ‘70s police cruiser.
Photo of white Crocs with mulitcolour Crocs inserted as charms on the Crocs.
People by Silver Jews Written by David Berman Moments can be monuments to you If your life is interesting and true It's just the same for a man or a girl The meaning of the world lies outside the world People love people and they understand If you want to renovate your background mind A federal woman needs municipal man People gotta synchronize to animal time You can't change the feeling But you can change the feeling about the feelings in a second or two, uh huh People always come around I'm studying the ceiling on a little afternoon And when I paint my dining room, uh huh People gonna come around I love to see a rainbow from a garden hose Lit up like the blood of a centerfold I love the city and the city rain Suburban kids with biblical names People ask people to watch their scotch People send people up to the moon When they return, well, there isn't much People be careful not to crest too soon See upcoming rock shows Get tickets for your favourite artists You might also like The drums march along at the clip of an I.V. drip Like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip, uh huh I really hope you'll come around It's sunny and 75 It feels so good to be alive Come on, baby, don't stay inside Everybody's coming out tonight
Work Published in 2025 ‱ 3 poems in Tokyo Poetry Journal, Vol 16,Winter 2025  ‱ 2 poems in Fire from the Heart: Winners from the 2025 Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize, Three Ocean Press, November 2025 ‱ 3 poems in Heron Tree, Volume 12, December 2025 ‱ Interview, “The Art of Writing”, talking about strawberries all of the time, October 2025 ‱ “Outpatient”, Pinhole Poetry Volume Three Selected, print edition, Spring 2025 ‱ Excuses to Mark a Day, Stone Circle Review, August 2025 ‱ Pain in the Reverie: What is a good poem and how does it begin? periodicities, July 2025 ‱ “72” Tiny Spoon, Superstition/Issue 13, Spring/Summer 2025 ‱ The Day Shane MacGowan Died, Contemporary Verse 2, Spring 2025 ‱ “Bridging the Gap” RCLAS Cooperative poem, April 2025 ‱ “Mother Lode” Poetry Pause, League of Canadian Poets, April 2025 ‱ “Almanac”, pacificREVIEW 2025, the AFTER:words Issue, May 2025 ‱ The Air Itself Is One Vast Library, ROOM Magazine (online), April 2025 ‱ 5 poems in talking about strawberries all of the time, April 2025 ‱ “Avocado”, Poetry Pause, League of Canadian Poets, March 2025 ‱ “Ambient”, The New Quarterly, Issue 173, January 2025 ‱ “Principally Uncertain”, Lover’s Eye Press, Issue 9, January 2025 ‱ “Time Out”, Kinds of Cool: A Collection of Jazz Poetry, Jerry Jazz Musician Unsolicited Press, January 2025 Readings: ‱ Ode to the Pattullo Art Salon, Saturday, April 12, 2025 at Anvil Centre, New Westminster ‱ SAPP: a poetry zine, Volume 3 launch, September 13, 2025 at Wildfires Bookshop, New West ‱ RCLAS Poetry in the Park Host: July 16 & 23 at Queen’s Park, New West ‱ SAPP Pride Edition, June 25 at Wildfires Bookshop, New West ‱ National Poetry Month Poetry + Art Salon, Saturday, April 12, 2025 at Anvil Centre, New West ‱ “Ambient” for The New Quarterly feature, March 2025