Toronto poetz r in ur gum machines

Maisonneuve reports that in Toronto you can now get poetry that comes with its own stick of gum. This isn't just a mere marketing gimmick where your efforts for digging deep into the poetic Cracker Jack box are rewarded with a prize. The gum has a more practical purpose: providing the necessary weight to aid the poetry in its passage through one of four poetry vending machines located around Toronto.

Toronto Poetry Vendors, helmed by poets Carey Toane and Elisabeth de Mariaffi and inspired by the Distriboto art vending machines in Montreal, dispenses the works of 10 Toronto-based poets per issue Spearmint, Cinnamon, Polar Ice and the traveling machine Snacks.

“The idea came out of the renaissance in handmade, DIY self-publishing in Toronto and the larger lit community, with all the beautiful hand-bound chapbooks and letter press books just begging to be handled and cracked open and enjoyed for their tactile qualities as much as for their content. I covet these things,” Toane says.