This book stems from the rich network of conversations and presentations that took place at the conference Avant Canada: Artists, Prophets, Revolutionaries at Brock University from 5 to 7 November 2014. Our gratitude extends to the organizers, facilitators, chairs, volunteers, and hosts of that event, alongside the over 100 presenters who made it such a vital gathering. We owe a special note of gratitude to Karis Shearer, from the Conference Organizing Committee, who was instrumental in the transition from event to text. Our gratitude goes to all the contributors in this book: Lisa Robertson, Liz Howard, Kristine Smitka, Stephen Cain, Julia Polyck-O’Neill, Mike Borkent, Eric Schmaltz, Kelly Mark, Kaie Kellough, Michael Roberson, Kit Dobson, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Erín Moure, Donato Mancini, Myra Bloom, Sonnet L’Abbé, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Lee Maracle, Annharte, Katie L. Price, Darren Wershler, Derek Beaulieu, Dani Spinosa, Moez Surani, André Alexis, and Jordan Abel. We are grateful to Eleanor Nichol for offering the help and support of the Estate of bpNichol, and for permission to reproduce the works in this book. We are grateful to Siobhan McMenemy, our indefatigable editor, who steered this book to publication with much grace and aplomb. We also thank Erín Moure for editorial insights. Finally, for support, mentoring, and general good-will, we give warm thanks to Lisa Quinn, Clare Hitchens, Dean Irvine, Neta Gordon, Laura Moss, Helen Hajnoczky, Erin Wunker, Jay MillAr, Rolf Maurer, Christine Stewart, Julia Bloch, Kenna O’Rourke, Arnold McBay, and Neil Hennessy.
“The Collective”: A version of this text was originally delivered as a keynote address at the conference The Concept of Vancouver, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 14 October 2016; the text later appeared on Harriet: A Poetry Blog. A part of this work was also published by Canadian Art (Winter 2017).
“Against Assimilation I Rose into Poetry”: A version of this paper was presented at “Emergent Insurgencies: Social Justice and Contemporary Form Symposium” for the TIA House at University of Calgary on 4 March 2016.
“The Sublation of Obduracy”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 5 November 2014.
“A Vision in the UofT Stacks”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 7 November 2014.
“Words With(out) Syntax”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 5 November 2014.
“Avant Comics”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 7 November 2014. The author would like to thank the Estate of bpNichol and Steve McCaffery for their kind permission to reprint the comics found in this chapter.
“A Field Guide”: This visual poem is from a larger project called A Field Guide to North Concrete. The author would like to thank angela rawlings, Derek Beaulieu, and Kaie Kellough for their permission to use their signatures in this work.
“National” and “Time”: These visual poems consist of Letraset on archival matte board, 24 x 24 in., 2015. [Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.]
“Continents”: A version of these texts was previously published in Matrix Magazine (Issue 100, Winter 2015). These imprints are excerpts from a series that explores the loss, acquisition, and migration of languages (be they dialects, créoles, pidgins, and vernaculars) throughout the African diaspora. The series is dedicated to Clarence Roger London.
“Transformation or Resistance”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 5 November 2014.
“A Poetics of Neoliberalism”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 5 November 2014.
“Sleek Vinyl Drill”: This poem was originally published in Ogress Oblige (San Francisco: Krupskaya, 2001).
“Pillage 12 (‘Anaximenes’)”: This version of the poem was originally published in Pillage Laud (Toronto: BookThug, 2011).
“If Violence (Hey You)”: This poem is a selection from the poem of the same name originally published in Buffet World (Vancouver: New Star, 2011).
“Messy Confessions”: This text is previously unpublished.
“Erasures Written on Territories Called Canada”: This text is previously unpublished.
“caribou ghosts & untold stories”: This poem is dedicated, out of respect, to the intelligence and commitment of Black Lives Matter Toronto for halting the Pride Parade in 2016. This poem was original published in The Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2017). Reprinted by permission of House of Anansi Press Inc., Toronto. www.houseofanansi.com.
“Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel”: This excerpt is taken from the novel Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel (Toronto: Women’s Press, 1990). PWM refers to the Progressive Workers Movement, a Vancouver-based political party that ran candidates in the federal election for 1965. NARP refers to the Native Alliance of Red Power, a Maoist and Troskyist advocacy group, founded in 1967 for off-reserve Indigenous people.
“cum cum how cum dat cums around even from behind”: This poem was originally published in Indigena Awry (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2012).
“A ≠ A”: An earlier version of this article appeared in Canadian Literature 210/211 (Autumn 2011): 27–41.
“Everyday Practice Before and After Conceptual Writing”: A version of this text was presented at the conference Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries, as part of the series Two Days of Canada, at Brock University on 6 November 2014.
“Prose of the TransCanada”: This text includes details from a work originally published as “Moments Café #8: Prose of the TransCanada” (Toronto: BookThug, 2014). The complete work was projected onto the Calgary Tower on 28–29 April 2014.
“1988”: This text is a chapter from 
Operación Opération Operation 
, a book-length poetic inventory of all military operations conducted by UN-member Nations since the organization’s inception in 1945. The text was chosen, in part, because the date refers to the year in which bpNichol died.
“Anxious Influence: Reading John Cage Theoretically”: This text reads through a selection of chapters from A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, recording the set of alternating occurrences of words whose inital letter is either J or C (the monogram of John Cage).
“On Amanda PL’s Cancelled Exhibit”: A previous version of this essay appeared in The Globe and Mail on 12 May 2017, under the title “The Complex Issues within Cultural Appropriation and Art.”
“A Line Can Be Drawn”: This interview was conducted by email between March 2017 and July 2017.