A.F. Moritz Griffin Prize reading

I very much like the way the Griffin Prize presents its readings on Youtube -- with the text running down the side and a high-res video of the poet reading, usually on a darkened stage.  There are advantages to listening only -- poetry is an oral as well as aural medium -- but where it is linguistically concentrated, and where line breaks or arrangement on the page matter, it is good to take it in visually, too.  This particular reading starts after the judges' plaudits -- actually, those I could do without -- at around 1:23.

News

I have just been awarded a Canada Council Writer's Grant, and have decided to take time off work to do just that -- to write -- starting tomorrow, until September.  Expect more frequent postings here as a result.

Another Spring poem

The Enkindled Spring
D. H. Lawrence

This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.

I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.

And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that's gone astray, and is lost.


A poem well worth knowing, if you don't already. Funny, many of today’s writers (me included) have a hard time in our own practice countenancing such “poetese” (archaic? trite?) word order as “in bonfires green” – but here it works, not only for the purposes of rhyme but explosive effect. It seems that our predilection towards a conversational tone actually hobbles us by restricting our word order choices...

JR at TED

I found this talk absolutely spellbinding.

Passenger Flight

Signature Editions, my publisher, has revamped its website.  Here you can read about Passenger Flight, peruse reviews and excerpts, and of course, order a copy.

Back

Clearly I've been away from this blog for a while, carrying a full teaching load, and little inclined to put much of my flagging energy here. But I never expected to have that Thomas Lovell Beddoes poem to head of this blog so long -- as if in its macabre prolixity it's emblematic of this blog itself, or even my current state.


Although the teaching has been going well, I do admit to a certain malaise, poetry-wise and creativity-wise. On lengthy commutes I've been listening to podcasts of Ideas, Philosophy Bites, Entitled Opinions, and TED Talks, Tapestry, The Sunday Edition and occasionally Poetry Magazine, while keeping informed about the wave of revolution in North Africa and other parts through The Current, and when I get home, Huffington Post and Al Jazeera. Spare hours finds me honing my guitar playing, learning pieces like Hotel California, Fix You and Wonderful Tonight to share with my class of EOL Adult learners. But lately I've drafted a new poem and done some good revisions, and -- what is the connection? -- find myself once again inclined to post here. So, as they say, stay tuned.