Michael Poliwoda was the guy who always wanted to be a writer but never actually wrote anything. Though he wrote a poem once, that made no sense. So, imagine our surprise when he started to crank out so many books in such a short time. When I asked him, he simply said, “I don’t know… I felt overwhelmed by life and responsibility, so I just did it…” His work, regardless of the genre he happens to write in, is filled with raw honesty, humanity, insight, and compassion. He drifts from sadness to cutting humour with a keen awareness of the human condition and our foibles. In high school, we liked the word foibles so much after we heard it in Mr. Thruppleton’s English class that we made a point of adding it to our limited vocabulary. Mike and I once shared a late-night hoagie from 7/11 in the back of a car in the most civilized way.
-Written by a friend
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Which ’hood are you in?
I’m in the wilds of western Quebec near the Ottawa River. It’s called The Pontiac, but it’s mostly Ford F-150 and Dodge Rams. Before that, I was in the town of Arnprior, population 7500 which I moved to for a job at the hospital foundation. I moved there from downtown Toronto, where I lived in the West Annex on Clinton Street, near Christie Pits and Little Italy. I grew up in North York. When I decided to leave Toronto for at least three reasons, I applied for a job with a consulting firm in Auckland, New Zealand. They called a few days later and said, “We have nothing in Auckland, but would you like to go to Arnprior?” Since both places start with the letter “A,” I said sure, why not.
What do you do?
I write. But not sure how I’ve written seven books – four published works and three soon-to-be-published works in four years. I’m not disciplined; I just kind of do it when I feel like it. Sometimes daily, sometimes I go weeks or months without writing a word. Mostly I’m a hockey dad and tech advisor to my two sons, while working for the Ottawa Public Library on the new Central Library Project. I also play drums. I’ve played on and off for most of my life and, way back, played with a band called Groovy Religion when they were signed to Psyche Industries, a Montreal-based indie record label. I still play occasionally because as a drummer, I sometimes like to hang out with musicians…
What are you currently working on?
I have three books at various stages of release in different genres. Inspiration is everywhere. The Performed Man: A Field Guide is a concise, structured nonfiction work that examines a common but rarely articulated experience in modern providers: the gradual fusion of identity with provision, stability, and emotional control. The second, Visiting Venus: A Guide for the Modern Traveller, is a guidebook for those willing to take the journey seriously, without taking themselves too seriously. Blending humour, observation, and hard-earned insight, it explores the subtle customs, shifting weather, and unspoken signals that shape life on Venus. The third is called I Remember (Je me souviens) I Remember (Je me souviens) a gripping work of alternate history. Told through the intertwined lives of citizens, from a working-class Montreal family to a radical nationalist cell and an immigrant community caught in the crossfire, this novel explores the high cost of sovereignty, the fragility of identity, and the resilience of memory. I have a few other works-in-progress that I will return to once the other three have left the nest.
Where can we find your work?
Four of my books are available on Amazon. I’m also on Substack and Facebook.
