When two voices sing together in poetry they begin an exploration into a world that is rich and dynamic. Cantata in Two Voices is a book written over the course of three months in which each poet embraced an epigraph sent to them by the other. It is here the real collaboration begins. A third voice reaches into the hearts of these two women as they play back and forth with one another in words meant to make you think twice, listen deeply and in the end sing. The line by line format makes it impossible to distinguish between the two voices as they gradually meld into one. This is a poetic journey into unknown territory as Neale and Nish reveal themselves, lose heart, win games, respond to love and ultimately exist through the friendship forged together in the process of writing.

“Infused with the sounds of life and rain and wind, these poems of response are unmistakably the voices of women – mature, ripe and in tune with each other – rising in a harmony of celebration.”
~Heidi Greco, author of Flightpaths: The Lost Journals of Amelia Earhart

Jude Neale is a Canadian poet, vocalist, spoken word performer and mentor. She has written six books. Her book, A Quiet Coming of Light, A Poetic Memoir (leaf press), was a finalist for the 2015 Pat Lowther Memorial Award, five of its poems were shortlisted for The Magpie Award, judged by George McWhirter, Vancouver’s first Poet Laureate, and three of its poems were nominated for the coveted Pushcart Prize (US) by three different publishers.

Bonnie Nish is Executive Director of Pandora’s Collective Outreach Society. Bonnie has been widely published worldwide in such places as The Ottawa Arts Review, The Danforth Review, Haunted Waters Press, Illness Crisis & Loss Journal Volume 24 and The Blue Print Review. Her first book of poetry Love and Bones was released by Karma Press in 2013. Her latest book Concussion and Mild TBI: Not Just Another Headline, an anthology of concussion-related stories, was published by Lash and Associates in August 2016.