Spire Poetry Poster is a quarterly broadside series featuring poets from Canada and beyond. Each issue is hand-stamped and numbered in a limited print run of one hundred copies.

Spire unites new and established writers in a forum rooted in the rich tradition of small press and little magazine publishing, the organics from which poetics grow. In an age pervaded by all things virtual, readers still crave the feel of paper fibre and ink, substantial in their palms.

By merging poets of different styles and backgrounds into the broadside format, Spire charts a space where divergent paths mingle. This little magazine brings poetry to public spaces—Spire can be found in cafés, bookstores, educational institutions, and on telephone poles across the country.

Originally from the North Shore of Lake Superior, and after a long stay in Ottawa, K.L. McKay currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is completing her MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta. She is a member of the Olive Reading Series Collective. In addition to these roles as editor and poetry event organizer, writing poetry is K.L.Õs primary focus. In the spring of 2007 she attended The Banff Centre for the Arts Writing Studio, under the guidance of Don McKay, Barry Dempster, and Elizabeth Phillips. Her first collection of poems, Barefoot Through the Pickybushes, was released in October 2005 through the University of Ottawa Friday Circle imprint. Her poetry has appeared the anthologies The Hoo Doo that You Do So Well from littlefishcart Press, and Tempus from Rubicon Press. Other publications include Ottwater 3.0, Bywords, CWS/cf, Pooka Press, Bloom Oon, and several online publications.

K.L. is a small press junkie. The Ottawa and Toronto Small Press Fairs are highlights of the year for Spire and K.L., and will always be worth the trek back East. She can usually be found peddling Spire Poetry Poster at readings around Edmonton, and further afield.

Once a week for three years, K.L. co-hosted the Café Nostalgica Poetry and Music Open Stage on the University of Ottawa campus, along with folk musician Trevor Tchir. Audio recordings of her poetry have appeared on two collections from that venue. For two years she taught a creative writing (poetry) and small press publishing enrichment program for secondary school students through Encounters With Canada in Ottawa. Now settled in Edmonton , K.L. is currently a member of the Olive Reading Series Collective.

Established in November 2003, Spire grew from an interesting tangle of influence and encouragement. Of particular mention are the following:

Like many small press endeavors, Spire emerged from the regular meeting of poets, musicians and creators at a weekly convergence. From September 2001 to July 2004, Spire editor K.L. McKay and folk musician Trevor Tchir co-hosted the Café Nostalgica Poetry and Music Open Stage. The brainchild of 'education and creativity' scholar Marc Spooner, the Graduate Students Association (GSAÉD), and dedicated barman and promoter Leonard Valiquette, this evening was shepherded around the credo of Maximum Creativity! Referenced in the Ottawa Citizen as "a hotbed of emerging young talent", and on Express Magazine's Best of Ottawa list for Best Open Stage (2003), this scene fed both the content and demand for Spire Poetry Poster.

From 1995 to 1997 Graffito Poetry Poster took on the task to "provide the greatest possible access to the work of contemporary poets through the dissemination of posters." In particular, Gaffito focused on the poets and public of the greater Ottawa area, and housed, at various times, the editorial skills of b stephen harding, Seymour Mayne, Kane Faucher, Stephanie Bolster, Robin Hannah, Christal Steck and Robert Craig, among others. Now defunct, Graffito has passed on the blessing of goodwill for Spire to continue the task of bringing poetry into open spaces. Graffito has leant magnificent inspiration to this little magazine.