Thursday, February 15, 2007
the poetry of Susan Goyette
I have been reading the work of a Canadian poet named Susan Goyette over the past week and it’s one of the few times that I have been moved by poetry. We had a lady who helps run a small local poetry publishing press, Brick Books, come in to speak to my ‘Media, Publishing, and Librarianship’ class and she brought a bunch of free books for us. I was late getting up to the front of the class to grab my freebie and her book, “The True Names of Birds”, was one of the last books laying there so I grabbed it and stuffed it in my bag. I was sitting at home last week and absentmindedly picked the book and started to read the poetry. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about the poems I like, perhaps the imagery and subject matter, but I have found myself strangely moved by these poems grounded in domestic life, marriage, and motherhood (strange subject matter for a 28 year old man to enjoy, I know). I can credit my wonderful and talented friends Daniel and Fanny, the newly migrated-to-Texas super-couple of great original poetry, with helping to break down my previous distaste for poetry (getting a Texan man and French Canadian woman, both poets, to marry is a recipe for poetic genius, and other kinds of genius, as far as I am concerned). I don’t understand what many of Goyette’s poems are ‘about’ per se, but I would definitely seek out her poetry again and perhaps I will spend some time looking into the work of other Canadian poets. Suggestions are always welcome, faithful readers…
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4 comments:
Dearest Bing,
I'm so jealous! I love "True Names of Birds", but do not own a copy. Brick publishes some of the best poetry in Canada. I can recommend Don McKay's poetry--he's a fellow Canuck and Victoria resident. South of the Border--were I now live (can you believe that?!)--there are the offerings of Mary Oliver and Jane Kenyon that are not to be missed. And, God-willing, perhaps maybe one of those days Texas will inspire me to write some more. No promises, though.
We love and miss you guys.
Bestest, Fanny
poetry is whatever sings to you
Hey Bing.
I like Patrick Lane, mostly because I took a class from him once, and he told the best stories about other Canadian poets. They were mostly stories of drunken debauchery, it's true, but he made me realize poems come out of ordinary people - they're not isolated pieces of delicate crystal which have formed magically overnight. They can be rough, awkward, bloody and beautiful, in the image of their makers.
Oh man. There's so much good Canadian Poetry it's almost rediculous. Um, there's the obvious ones, like Irving Layton and Leonard Cohen. Alison Pick is newer, and writes poetry and prose. I like both a lot. Dionne Brand is dense verbally (I used to read her with a window of the OED open on my computer), but she's also pure sensory overload. Love. It. Her prose is also worth checking out.
There's some Michael Ondaatje you could leave around for the wife to find, it'd probably work out well for you...
AJM Smith did a poem called "The Lonely Land" that the verbalized equivalent of a Group of Seven painting. It's stunning.
Robert Kroetsch might speak more to a 28 year old man. He bases a lot of his work in the land and his family's history in Canada, it's pretty neat stuff.
So that's just some of my favourites, off the top of my head. One other that might be of interest is Bliss Carman. He's definitely old-school romantic melodrama, but he does it well; and I've heard UWO archives has some of his manuscripts and 1st editions.
Anyway, that's just a few suggestions. You know where to find me if you need more.
--Shauna
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