Name: The Earth is on Fire: Now What?
Start: 2026-03-26T19:00:00-07:00
Location: 2434 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3E2, Canada

The Earth is on Fire: Now What? is a poetry reading and open mic that will delve into the idea of what do we do now with the world as it is. This event will focus spoken word and storytelling on the literal and figure, the abstract and the tangible as to what comes next and what can we do with the world now that it's figuratively and literally on fire.
Our four featured poets for this show are Steve Collis, Cole Mash, Erin Scott and Magpie Ulysses.
https://theearthisonfire.eventbrite.ca
Stephen Collis is the author of fifteen books of poetry and prose, including The Commons (2008), the BC Book Prize winning On the Material (2010), and Almost Islands: Phyllis Webb and the Pursuit of the Unwritten (2018)—all published by Talonbooks. A History of the Theories of Rain (2021) was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for poetry, and in 2019, Collis was the recipient of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Latner Poetry Prize. The Middle, the second volume in a trilogy, was published in October 2024, and Knock Down House, an experimental memoir, was published by Pamenar Press in 2025. He lives on Burnaby Mountain, unceded Coast Salish Territory, and teaches poetry and poetics at Simon Fraser University.
Cole Mash (he/him) is a writer, spoken word artist, and community arts organizer who lives on unceded Syilx-Okanagan territory in Kelowna, BC. He has performed poetry locally and nationally for over 10 years, and his creative work has been published across Canada, including in CV2, Pinhole Poetry, and NōD magazine. His book of hybrid nonfiction, Confabulography, is forthcoming with Broke Press. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Kelowna-based non-profit arts organization Inspired Word Café and teaches English and Creative Writing at UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College. Occasionally, he lies about having gone to the arctic circle; he was pretty close, and hopes to get there one day.
Erin Scott (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist who works in time-based mediums, including poetry, performance, and video/audio. With publications and performances across forms, they have made spoken word albums, books, exhibitions, drag performances, Fringe shows, and more. Erin holds an MFA and is currently a PhD candidate at UBCO in Digital Arts and Humanities where she makes videopoems and writes about Scottish Gaelic, land, and belonging. Erin lives on the unceded territories of the syilx peoples of the Okanagan Nation.
Writer, Rabble Rouser, fancy talker; Magpie Ulysses is a performance poet and storyteller who refuses to follow any one literary or oral tradition. Known for high impact performances which showcase visceral, often surrealist writings that extend from the everyday human experience into the depths of natural and inanimate worlds.
Magpie is a queer, neurodivergent, activist, nature nerd, garden witch who started performing poems more than 25 years ago. She accepts her influences come from Punk rock, 90’s grunge, and the American beats (DiPrima, Brautigan, Ferlingetti) while taking gentler cues from the works of Rumi, Cohen, and Annie Dillard.
Death Rides a Unicorn Events primarily works on the unceded stolen lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.