When Losers Win

Anthony Labriola's work has appeared in such publications as The Canadian Forum, PRISM international, Lo Straniero, Vallum: New International Poetics, Still Point Arts Quarterly, and Passion: Poetry. He has had several collections of poetry published, including two by Shanti Arts-the other being Birds and Arrows (2017). Labriola was born in Italy but grew up in Canada. He comes from a large family, and many of his siblings are artists. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Louisa Josephine. They have five grown children-each is an artist in his or her own right. Labriola's love of poetry began at a young age when he first read Dylan Thomas's The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower. The same force drove him to write and write and write with a focus on mystical realities. The theater also held a strange fascination for him, and he acted in, directed, and wrote many plays. After graduating high school in the late 1960s, he studied English and French at the University of Toronto. Bent on teaching literature and the arts, he received a B. Ed. in English and Dramatic Arts from the Faculty of Education, and an M.A. from the Graduate Center for the Study of Drama. He taught English, Drama and Performing Arts for thirty-two years. He was also Curriculum Chair in the Arts and was inspired by the talents of his students. Labriola now lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and teaches Life Writing at Seneca College.