Poetry can expose you. It can make you laugh, make you giggle like a fool. Poetry can be intoxicating, or maybe sobering. It can be pensive, methodical. It can be "deep." Sometimes it can be just totally fucked up. Poetry alters your perspective - shows you the world in a new light, however fleeting a glimpse it might be, draws attention to something you never noticed before. It is subversive -- maybe even little bit criminal! For some, it is a secret indulgence.

Most of all, poetry is organic. It's always growing and changing, and it is in this spirit that The Antigonish Review (TAR) has created The Poet Grow-Op, an online space dedicated to emerging artists. We want to help poets who are in the midst of post-secondary studies to set their roots and maybe cultivate a name for themselves. We want to bring attention to -- focus our fluorescent lights on -- some of the great writing that's happening on college and university campuses all over. The Grow-Op features a selection of poets on a quarterly basis, in tandem with TAR's publication. And getting involved couldn't be easier; all it takes is an email. (See guidelines for more information.)

Poetry is flora. It can be found in the neighbours' flowerbed, in a pot out on the building's fire escape, or with the weeds in a ditch. The Poet Grow-Op strives to nurture new growth and give student writers an opportunity to showcase their work, to share their art with our online readers around the world.

TAR's Poet Grow-Op began in early 2008. The Grow-Op editor is TAR's student intern, Mitch Murray. Mitch is currently studying English at St. Francis Xavier University.