Fiona Tinwei Lam

Here’s a book I very much enjoyed this summer: Enter the Chrysanthemum by Vancouver poet Fiona Tinwei Lam. Her poems express powerful, simple emotions with extraordinary clarity and restraint; at times they are written with an almost oriental sense of delicacy, betraying the author’s Chinese-Canadian upbringing (although there is a twist: she was born in Scotland.) Lam handles family and childhood very well; her style and sensibility put me in mind of Li-Young Lee.

Actually, there’s a personal connection with this writer. I met her at the League of Canadian Poet’s Conference/Fest in Vancouver last June, where she was also launching her book. I was immediately impressed by what she read; we later traded books, and have been corresponding. About the relation of her verse with that of Li-Young Lee, she writes,

I love Li-Young Lee's lyrical voice, and his work is a real inspiration. His tone, his style of remembrance differ from mine in that I probably "twist the screw" so to speak in my last lines in a way he doesn't--a different path to insight perhaps. I'd say his poems are more formally "beautiful", and that he makes different use of rhythm and repetition. I probably tend to be more direct, using a super- distilled version of ordinary or even conversational speech, rather than elevated speech.

Below are three favourite poems from Chrysanthemum, posted with her permission.


RAPUNZEL

I want to say Make love to me
but instead, I mention the weather—
after weeks of damp, the air
is as mild as spring’s, the skies
swept clear of cloud.
I’m restless, tired of my tower
of virtue, this higher ground.

I want to say Climb up.
These nights alone,
I’ve made my hands yours,
the gaze of your palms
upon the gaze of my flesh.
You’ve opened me. I’m here,
waiting. Enter
what I’ve let no man enter:
Let us become
first woman, first man
in the garden of our limbs.
I’m eager for your body’s salt.
My hair flows down.


CALL

These days, every hour or less,
a phone call from my mother.

She flails and clutches at me through the line.
Help me. But I can’t drag her out.

I say, it’s alright, it’s alright.
But it’s not and I can’t
stop the dark as it pushes her in.

What’s left of her memory,
a skim of debris
that disintegrates while she flounders.

Words have no arms.
I love you saves no one
and soon I’ll cry too
from what’s gouged away
beneath the soothe and lull
of my voice.

I’ll coax out a blanket of sleep
and tuck it around her,
make her forget the forgetting.

Until the numbers too begin drifting
just out of grasp. Just like the daughter
I will no longer be.


SHOWER

Those mornings we’re together, the three of us
stand in the spray of soft diamonds—sunlight
through glass, and everything sparkling.
You hold our son high in your arms
while I lather him up. Our little otter,
he’s as sleek and slick as when he slid
from my womb. Then I lather you,
foot to thigh, chest to back—the heft and sinew
of what I have loved. You and he both
turn in the warm rain, my universe
of king and prince rinsed to glisten.
When you soap my skin, I live,
become brief silk in your hands, as luscious
as when your desire flowed. Only water
will love me when you are gone.

off to van...

I'm flying to Vancouver tomorrow for the League of Canadian Poets' Annual Conference/Fest. There I'll take part in AGM-type meetings, seminars, readings and book launches -- including another launch of Passenger Flight. Will spend a few days afterwards visiting the town. May I have at least one afternoon on one of it's many beaches -- although the forecast looks a little cool yet. I'll be visiting a few relatives there -- including an uncle (who I haven't seen since I was about 15) who celebrated his hundredth birthday this year!

LCP News From Quebec

Here's my account of Quebec League members' activities, probably my last for good or at least for a good long while, since I'm stepping down (again) as Quebec Rep on the League of Canadian Poets' National Council.

NEWS FROM QUEBEC

According to the latest stats, about 8% of Quebecers—a total of around 605,000 -- are Anglophones, and most of these – about 480,000 -- live in Greater Montreal. That makes a town little bigger than, say, Kitchener-Waterloo. Considering these figures, one can hardly deny that Quebec is a sizzling hotbed of English Language poetic talent and activity. This year as always a significant volume of production took place, contributing to the province’s particularly lively literary scene.

LAUNCHES/PRIZES/HONOURS etc.

Oana Avisilichioaei launched feria: a poem park (Wolsak and Wynn) in September.
Carolyn Marie Souaid launched her fifth collection, Paper Oranges (Signature Editions) in October.
Brian Campbell (yours truly) launched his second collection, Passenger Flight (Signature Editions) in April.
20 Canadian Poets Take on the World, edited by Priscilla Uppal, was launched in Toronto and in April, in Montreal. The book features translations of 20 foreign poets; among the translators was Quebec’s Erin Mouré.

Erin Mouré along with Robert Mazjels was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize for their translation of Nicole Brossard’s Notebook of Roses and Civilization; the same book was also shortlisted for the 2007 Governer General’s Award for Translation.

Winner of the 2008 Quebec Writer’s Federation A.M. Klein Award (Poetry) was Peter Richardson for Sympathy for the Couriers (Vehicule Press). On the short list were
Katia Grubisic’s What if red ran out (Goose Lane Editions) and Joshua Auerbach’s Radius Of Light (DC Books). All three are LCP members.

Former member Nina Bruck’s chapbook, Still Light at Five O’Clock (Sky of Ink Press) was one of three winners of the 2008 Writer’s Circle of Durham Region Chapbook Challenge, a competition that saw submissions from all over North America. The chap, by the way, was edited and produced by myself and Raphael Bendahan.

“Emblem”, a poem of mine previously published in Prairie Fire was chosen by the BC Ministry of Education for use on its Grade 12 exams. Lesley Pasquin, meanwhile, won first prize for Poetry with Room Magazine. Carolyn Marie Souaid took over this year as poetry editor of Signature Editions.

READINGS/EXHIBITS ETC.

The Atwater Poetry Project, besides giving stage to a number of prominent out-of-towners, also saw readings by Maxianne Berger, Kaie Kellough and former member Carmine Starnino.

The Yellow Door,Visual Arts Centre, Poetry Plus, Noches de Poesia, Words and Music, and WIRE (West Island Reader’s Electric) are the ongoing local English language poetry series in and around Montreal – and this year their stages hosted (besides a fair number of out-of-province poets) the likes of Stephen Morrissey, Maxianne Berger, Julie Mahfood, Fortner Anderson, Geoff Cook, Ian Ferrier, Stephanie Bolster, Helen Zisimatos, Johanna Skibsrud, Carolyn Zonailo, Joshua Auerbach, Angela Carr, Erin Mouré, Lesley Pasquin, Oana Avasilichioaei, and myself.

The June 2 2008 QWF Schmoozpalooza featured two panels, with each member championing an outstanding short literary work by a Quebec English-Language author. The poetry panel consisted of Stephanie Bolster (who chose The Slough by Bruce Taylor), Geoffrey Cook (The Confused Heart by Robyn Sarah), and Catherine Kidd (Stanazas 1-13 of the Encantadas by Robert Allen). This event was hosted by CBC host Anne Lagacé Dowson.

23-26 October Bryan Sentes read and presented a paper “ Charm Schools: Modes of Petitio Benevolentiae in Contemporary Canadian Poetry” at the States of Art International Poetry Conference in Saarbrücken, Germany.

In October the Spoiled Artists’ Liberation Army (SALA) did its bit to put on ice Stephen Harper’s election hopes in Quebec, with this YouTube video excoriating proposed culture cuts. Some of you may recognize its incognito participants, who may be found hiding in certain secret caves in the hills of Mont Royal.

Endre Farkas’ play “Haunted House” was presented by Tableau D’Hôte at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in late February through to early March. The play is about A.M. Klein, whose 100th birthday was in February 2009. The play was well received, had very good reviews and sold out most nights.

Also in February, Fortner Anderson’s recent drawings and collage work were exhibited at the Luz Gallery in Montreal.

University of Montreal’s Sense and Sustainability conference in March 2009 featured readings by myself, Ian Ferrier, Carolyn Marie Souaid, Charolotte Hussey, and Bryan Sentes. In the same month, the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival featured Erin Mouré and Oana Avasilichioaei.

Carolyn Souaid also read at the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival in April and hosted two panels at the Blue Metropolis Festival. Kaie Kellough, meanwhile, ran a multimedia show at Blue Met which involved a dramatic reading of improvised material generated by an audience of several dozen tapping furiously on laptops.

Maxianne Berger was April’s Poet-in-Residence for the League’s Young Poets’ Forum, and in July will give a tanka workshop at Camp Haïku in Baie-Comeau.

All those who launched books have embarked on national reading tours – Carolyn Marie Souaid to Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria, myself to Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver, and Oana Avasilichioaei to schools in Ontario as well as other destinations (well, she didn’t give me details) far and wide.

On May 3, Quebec members had their (W)rites of Spring reading and fundraiser at the Arts Café. Featured readers included Kaie Kellough, Maxianne Berger, Angela Carr, Charlotte Hussey, Michaela Sefler, Johanna Skibsrud, Lesley Pasquin, Carolyn Zonailo, Stephen Morrissey, myself and Ontario member Sonja Greckol. The event was well-attended, featured raffles for books and feedback from Steven Michael Berzensky (Mick Burrs) and Maurice Mierau, and raised a total of $145 for the League.

The reason I’m writing the report this year is that Angela Leuck, who took over from me as Quebec/Nunavut rep last June, had to step down for personal reasons. I agreed to take the reins again as of last February. As always, it has been a great pleasure to serve as Quebec/Nunavut’s rep. Ian Ferrier will be taking over from me this June, assuming his acclamation at this year’s LCP Fest and Conference. Former QWF President and prominent facilitator and participant in Quebec’s Spoken Word scene, Ian has many talents and abilities to bring to that role. He intends in particular to use his connections with younger poets to increase awareness of the League and bring more members into its fold.

LEAGUE OF CANADIAN POETS
(W)RITES OF SPRING
POETRY READING/FUNDRAISER

Arts Café
201 Fairmount Ave

Sunday, May 3
7 – 10 pm

$5 suggested donation Featured Readers:
Kaie Kellough,
Maxianne Berger, Angela Carr, Charlotte Hussey, Michaela Sefler,
Stephen Morrissey, Carolyn Zonailo
Johanna Skibsrud, Lesley Pasquin,
Brian Campbell, Sonja Greckol
Books/feedback raffle

General public open mike

May your poetree burgeon into bloom!

I'm League Rep Again

It seems I'm Quebec Rep on the League of Canadian Poets' National Council once again. Angela Leuck, the poet who took over the reins from me last June, asked me to take them back. Some personal obstacles indisposed her from carrying out the duties of this volunteer position. Taking over doesn't particularly bother me. Duties include participating in monthly teleconferences and the meeting at the League Festival and Conference (formerly AGM), setting up a fundraising event, answering inquiries and passing on info to fellow members. At the last general meeting, I actually proposed (a motion that's since passed) that the term of League Reps be increased from two years to three -- just because there's a learning curve (familiarity curve?) that's barely completed after two years.

Some more poets

Can we human beings legitimately call ourselves poets, or is "poet" a state or title we can only aspire to? I often feel this inner conflict when I find myself referring to myself as "poet". So, I'm sure, do many of these people -- although among them you'll find nominees and even winners of some major totems of distinction (otherwise known as awards, prizes, credits). But, on repeated reflection, I think these can be called poets, such as they are. Many of them have become quite lovely people, at least partly due to their practice -- however flawed, sporadic, or conversely, compulsive -- of this most demanding and difficult art.

On top: Sharon Singer and Susan McMaster
Middle: Marian Francis White, who organized this whole conference/fest (and deserves every credit for making it an excellent one), found herself without a seat on the bus she had reserved for us... so she had to "lap the miles" with several of us, inc. Allan Briesmaster; beside him is his wife, Holly.
Bottom: a whole busload of 'em, going to Marlene Create's in situ reading. Among these, at the back to the right, is Barbara Nickel, a poet I will definitely be reading more of in the coming months; and although he didn't get in this picture, Don McKay. I'd be hard pressed to name the others...except of course that guy on the right. (Who is he, again?)

silhouettes

The only picture I took during League council and member meetings. From left to right, that's the silhouette of Ingel Madrus, Readings & Membership Coordinator, taking minutes; Executive Director Joanna Poblocka; and outgoing President Maurice Mierau standing and speaking. The most significant resolutions related to private fundraising efforts, as well as access copyright issues -- too complicated to get into here. (Or rather, too complicated for my inclination to get into here.) League member National council positions -- all of them voluntary, by the way -- will be increased to 2 to 3 years, in order to ensure continuity and take greater advantage of accumulated experience. That was a resolution put forward by me, as I step down after my two-year stint as Quebec rep, and it passed. (The motion pends final ratification because it's a constitutional measure, but eventually it will be voted into law.) Anyway, that's a nice view of St. John's.

Some poets

L-R: Carolyn Marie Souaid, Endre Farkas, Lori Cayer, Maurice Mierau, and Eric Folsom at The Pepper Mill, St. John's. As for me, I'm behind the camera.

Bringing Summer to the Rock

Morning fog in St. John's harbour;
above, street sign for Hill O'Chips, taken on a clearer day
(click thru to see large)

Shortly after I arrived at the Battery Hotel in St. John's, I was asked to be interviewed by host Jeff Gilhooly on the CBC St. John's Morning Show. It was to be about League Conference, but there was also a special request: since the weather had been so miserable of late (fog, rain, highs of 10 degrees C.), could I volunteer some poetic lines about bringing summer to St. John's?

Actually, they had originally asked Maurice Mierau, League President, to do the interview, but he wasn't sure he'd be up for it (he would be flying in after midnight and had to chair meetings all day) and recommended me instead.

I gladly accepted the offer, but with some trepidation: what would I dream up over the next few hours about that? The subject seemed rife with trite possibilities. I was reminded of the demands by certain Persian potentates of their court poets to come up with some suitable lines for an occasion, or off with their heads. I went to a reading at Breakwater Books that began our fest with some vague notions flying around in my mind of laying down of sacramental flowers, of everyone having a summer inside them and those flowers within them, something like that.

At the reading, I was exposed to some of The Rock's better poets -- Tom Dawe and Mary Dalton were standouts, expressing par excellence that Newfoundland verbal flair everyone remarks upon who comes here. Coming back, the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife -- thicker than any I had ever seen: you couldn't see much past 20 feet down the road. I enjoyed the streetnames -- maritime names like Topsail and Water, dumpy Anglo names like Duckworth and Gower, oddities like Quidi Vidi, quaint & Victorian like Temperance, and then, oddest of all, at the crest of a hill overlooking the harbour, Hill O'Chips... back in my hotel room, a look at the map revealed all kinds of fantastic names for the fishing villages (many abandoned) along the rugged coasts. Indeed, the rooms at the Battery were named after them. My own was Indian Tickle, across the hall was Happy Adventure; also there was Shambler's Cove, Nameless Point, Heart's Delight, Nipper's Harbour, Nicky's Nose Cove, Witless Bay...

Fortunately, a student of mine who happens to subscribe to Canadian Geographic had passed to me its most recent issue; in it was an article on Newfoundland expressions. What a rich vernacular! Among them were these two which I ended up using (obscure, it turns out, even to most Newfoundlanders, but there they were):

A noggin to scrape: a difficult task.
All dressed up with scurvy ankles: she's well dressed by not clean.

By 3 in the morning, this is what I came up with. It was fun reading it over the radio 4 hours later. (Needless to say, I had to sleep through most of the following afternoon...)

BRINGING SUMMER TO THE ROCK

The fog’s clammy snout
wets my cheek, brushes my brow
as I gaze down from the crest of Hill O’Chips
into this dour harbour --
bringing summer here is a noggin to scrape,
I’m all dressed up with scurvy ankles but I’ll try:
hyacinths, bramble rose
even that fistful of dandelions
I gave my first grade teacher
two score years ago or more as a bouquet
I lay, in this place that gives tongue
to the outcrops,
Happy Adventure, Indian Tickle, Witless Bay --
whimsical wordsprouts that
bloom for us all
their own feverish summer.

Today I'm flying off to St. John's, Newfoundland to participate in the LCP Poetry Festival and Conference. That'll take place on Friday to Sunday; I'm staying on for a couple of extra days to hang out in St. John's.

NEWS FROM QUEBEC

Here's my annual report on the Quebec (read Montreal) Anglo poetry scene for the League of Poets newsletter -- perhaps my last. Who knows? (Provincial reps, unless no willing replacement can be found, generally stay on for two years only.)

If you are interested in any of the authors below, highlighting and dragging their names into your Google search bar will yield results. (I think my time is better spent than by making a zillion hyperlinks.)

NEWS FROM QUEBEC 2007-8

I’d like to begin by saying that my two-year stint as Quebec/Nunavut’s representative on the League of Canadian Poets’ National Council has been productive, informative, and enjoyable. Notable initiatives include the resurrection of the annual (W)rites of Spring Readings and Fundraisers, and the change of the name of the AGM to Festival and Conference, which I believe was my brainchild, although other council members acted as able midwives to that proposal. Barring the unforeseen, Angela Leuck will be taking the helm. A poet who specializes in Eastern poetry forms, she has edited three anthologies of haiku and published her own haiku collection as well. She has many talents to bring to the position. Already she is on the board of Directors of the Quebec Writer’s Federation, and is very interested in forging stronger ties between the League and other organizations, as well as carrying our reading/fundraising initiatives further.

Quebec -- particularly Montreal -- continued this year to live up to its reputation as an excellent haven for poetry mavens. The Anglo literary scene has always been well endowed with talent, with lively publishing and reading scenes.

BOOK LAUNCHES/PRIZES

Peter Richardson's third book, Sympathy for the Couriers (Vehicule Press), was launched last December. This past winter, he read in Victoria at the Pacific Festival of the Book. He will be reading at the Artbar Series in Toronto on September 16th.

Maxianne Berger’s second collection, Dismantled Secrets (Wolsak and Wynn), was launched at Paragraphe in April. (She'll be on tour with it in early June in and around Toronto.)

So was Katia Grubisic’s first collection, What if red ran out (Goose Lane Editions). Her tour included Waterloo, Toronto, and Montreal.

Endre Farkas’ selected, Quotidian Fever: Selected Poems 1974-2007, was published by the Muses’ Company and launched at Casa Del Popolo.

Joshua Auerbach launched his first full book of poetry, Radius Of Light (DC Books) at the Blue Metropolis festival in May, 2008.

The Echoing Years: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian and Irish Verse was launched in March. It includes poetry selections by Stephanie Bolster, Don Coles, Mary Dalton, and John Steffler, among others.

Ian Ferrier teamed up with an all-female choir and Montreal's top avant garde jazz musicians in a spoken word/music album entitled What Is This Place, released in late 2007. It was cited as the best of 2007 by Montreal’s Hour Magazine.

Fortner Anderson won the first Voice Electric Award 2007, a $2000 prize awarded by two Montreal organizations, Wired on Words Productions and Les Filles électriques, for achievement in spoken word literature.

Four notable non-members also launched books in Montreal. David Solway won the Quebec Writer’s Federation 2007 A.M. Klein Award for Reaching for Clear (Vehicule Press, 2007), an award sponsored by member Jennifer Boire and her husband Jacques Nolin, by the way; he also launched The Properties of Things: from the Poems of Bartholomew the Englishman. In May 2007, Robyn Sarah launched her essay collection Little Eurekas: A Decade’s Thoughts on Poetry. This year, Mark Abley launched The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English, a non-fiction book that investigates everything from hip-hop language to Asian English, Spanglish and text-messaging. Last November, former member Nina Bruck launched her first chapbook, Still Light at Five O’Clock (Sky of Ink Press) at the age of 84. (The book, by the way, was edited by myself and Raphael Bendahan.) She was interviewed in CBC TV and CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition, and the book, having sold out its initial print run of 100, has been reissued in a second edition.

FESTIVALS/READINGS

At the Blue Metropolis (April 30-May 4), one of Canada’s largest international literary festivals, Carolyn Marie Souaid hosted several events. The program included a reading by ten Montreal poets, including League members Carolyn Marie Souaid, Joshua Auerbach, Bryan Sentes, and Helen Zisimatos.

At the Yellow Door Poetry and Prose monthly reading series, hosted by Ilona Martonfi, numerous LCP poets were featured over the year. Quebec members included Kelly Norah Drukker, Jennifer Boire, Catherine Kidd, Maxianne Berger, Peter Richardson, Stephen Morrissey. The Visual Arts Centre reading series, also hosted by Ilona, gave the stage to, among others, Catherine Kidd, Fortner Anderson, Kaie Kellough, Katia Grubisic, Ian Ferrier, Catherine Kidd, Peter Richardson, Steven Morrissey, Jennifer Boire, Sharon Nelson, Anne Cimon, Carolyn Zonailo and yours truly (Brian Campbell).

The Atwater Poetry Project reading series, organized by Oana Avisilichioaei, featured a number of league members and other notables, including Robin Blaser, John Barton, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Carmine Starnino, Stephanie Bolster and Natalee Caple.

The multilingual Noches de Poesia, Poetry Plus, and the Words and Music series (which focuses primarily on spoken word) also featured many of the above-named poets and others.

In March, the Writers Out Loud series presented Endre Farkas. He was also interviewed and read on CBC. He and Carolyn Marie Souaid also coproduced the 4th annual Circus of Words/Cirque des mots, another sold-out cabaret evening celebrating the “theature of poetry.” This year’s event featured Nicole Brossard, among others.

A little farther from Montreal, Carolyn Marie Souaid was resource author for “Quebec Roots”, a Blue Metropolis educational project that took her to Kiluutaq School in Nunavik (Northern Quebec) – not to be confused with Nunavut – in March to create a photo-essay of their community. Their piece appeared alongside that of 5 other Quebec schools in a book which was launched at the last Blue Metropolis literary festival.

Catherine Kidd did a spoken word performance tour of South Africa in Spring 2007, and Fortner Anderson performed last summer at the Berlin Poetry Festival and at the 13th International Poetry Festival in Genoa, Italy. Ian Ferrier performed at the 2008 Calgary International Spoken Word festival.

At Words on the Move, an event put on by the Literary Translator’s Association of Canada, translator members and the public at large try their hand at translating a poem into the language of their choice. This year’s challenge was to translate extracts of Catherine Kidd’s Flying Lizard or Patrick Coppen’s Carnets Secrets. The 20-odd participants included Maxianne Berger and myself.

On April 3, I organized the LCP (W)rites of Spring Poetry Reading/fundraiser at Café Volver. Featured readers were Maxianne Berger, Kelly Norah Drukker, Erin Mouré, Stephen Morrissey, Carolyn Zonailo, Angela Leuck, Oana Avasilichioaei, and yours truly. About 25 people attended, and altogether we raised $90 for the league.

REVIEW PUBLICATION

Some writers sent me news about their review publications. This can only be a very partial list.

Endre Farkas and Oana Avasilichioaei were featured in Jacket, an Australian online magazine (special Canadian edition ed. by Jason Camlot and Todd Swift.) Yours truly had poems published over the last year in CV2, Umbrella, Carte Blanche, MiPoesias, Geez, Saranac Review and The Antigonish Review. Kelly Norah Drukker’s set of long poems Still Lives was published in the June 2007 issue of enRoute Magazine as part of the 2006 CBC literary awards second prize for poetry; three poems of hers also appeared in Room.

This year's League of Canadian Poet's Poetry Fest and Conference takes place in St. John's, Newfoundland, from June 20 to 22nd. Yesterday I booked my flight.

I'll be staying on an extra couple of days to enjoy this place to which there's a good likelihood I'll never return, given that fuel & airline prices are going through the roof.

RW -- I'd like to meet you... is that possible, given that I'll be in your neck of the woods?

LEAGUE OF CANADIAN POETS

(W)RITES OF SPRING

POETRY READING/FUNDRAISER

Café Volver

5604 Ave. du Parc, Mtl.

Thurs. April 3

7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

$5 suggested donation

Featured Readers: Maxianne Berger,

Kelly Norah Drukker, Brian Campbell, Erin Mouré

Stephen Morrissey, Carolyn Zonailo,

Angela Leuck, Oana Avasilichioaei

General public open mike

May your poetree burgeon into bloom!

Info: 514-272-4419

A highly enjoyable event this was: some 20-odd people attended, and the poetry of featured readers and even open mikes was decent to excellent... Readers who I most enjoyed: Maxianne, whose poem ABC's of Desire I adore (it'll be in her next collection, which will be launched in a couple of weeks);Kelly Norah who read a very evocative a poem about a wild boar (I also very much liked a poem she did on the passing of a friend);Stephen who read an interesting sequence of poems about coats; Angela, whose presentation of haikus is always informative and engaging -- she read some haikus she had just written that day at Botanical Gardens, and some of them were very good; and myself (who I really enjoyed, ha ha). Erin and Oana read pieces for two voices in English, Romanian, Galician and Portugese that were pleasant to hear, but required mental calisthenics quite beyond the the rather distracted capacity of my attention, and Carolyn's poems also I couldn't get into for a bunch of extraneous reasons having to do with being a host, although I liked some lines (her being the product of her parent's eros -- heart beating love love love -- quite liked that).

Must admit, being the host of an event like this means one is so preoccupied with keeping things moving according to schedule and thinking about what one is going to do & say, that one simply cannot always be properly present to what is being read -- the main purpose of the event to begin with. Occupational hazard of hosts, particularly of poetry events.

Anyway, thanks to all participants and contributors and to that attentive audience. About $90 was raised for the League, all told.

Cruelest month?

To celebrate National Poetry Month, the League of Canadian Poets has opened a blog called "Poetry Without Borders". League of Canadian Poets members are invited to submit poems for its Poem-a-Day feature on a first come, first served basis.

I am not sure why it's called "Poetry Without Borders", since all the poetry comes from within the borders of Canada (or at least, is by Canadians), and what's more, within the borders of a national poetry organization. I suppose they're referring to international access via internet. But what with Doctors Without Borders and Words Without Borders, the name suggests something much more along those lines...

Compared to the poem-a-day email subscription feature of Poets.org, this is still fledgling affair. This is not really reaching out to the broader public in the way that Poets.org does. But it's a nice start. I like the informality of the submission process.

Some try to write a poem a day for the entire month. It's a fabulous idea -- for others. With all the editing I've been doing of late, and have yet to do in the coming weeks, I'm not in that kind of mode.

In the MiPOesias blog, editor Didi Menendez writes in a post entitled "ME ME ME ME ME":

May I suggest that during National Poetry Month that instead of just thinking about your own poetry that you also consider writing a review (at least one a week = 4 reviews) of someone else's poetry (book, individual poem, magazine, journal, broadside, etc.).

Great idea, too. I may just take her up on it.

What I've decided to do, though, is send things off every day -- very ME ME ME -- but something I've lagged on far too often over the years.

Eric Folsom: Northeastern Anti-Ghazals

Although books outnumber chapbooks on my shelves by at least two dozen to one, the chapbook has always struck me as a format most germane to poetry: the intensity of the form lends itself to short draughts. Looking at all the unfinished collections on my shelves, as well as all those I have read in full to which I might return to reread a handful, I could easily say that in every full-length book of poetry, I find a chapbook I could call my own.

Eric Folsom's Northeastern Anti-Ghazals is a chap I picked up at the last League of Poets' AGM in Edmonton. I read the poems with great interest a couple of months ago, and now am rereading them and enjoying them all the more. Especially arresting is the diamond-like particularity of many of those couplets, i.e. observations like:

Inside where I stand, one cobweb on the ceiling
Delicately twists when the furnace comes to life.

or the suggestiveness of

Labouring with love for love, the wedding ring
On the spice shelves while I do the dishes.

... and the frequently mysterious leaps between those couplets.

The Ghazal, according to my Dictionary of Poetic Terms, is a Near Eastern verse form, celebrating love and drinking, composed of 5 to 12 couplets, the last of which contains the author's name. One feature of them is a spirit of intensity and compression that brings to mind the haiku; according to Kate Braid & Sandy Shreve's In Fine Form, traditional ghazal couplets are never enjambed; and in fact were so independent of each other that their order could be changed without damaging the poem.

Eric tells me (we corresponded by e-mail) that the “Anti” part in the title "is a nod to Phyllis Webb, who first used the term to acknowledge that she was really writing a highly westernized version of the ghazal, not recognizable to most Arabic poets, and one might presume Persian, Urdu, or Hindi." (Possibly English haikus could be called an anti-haikus for the same reason.) His poems tend to take the form of understated, sharp observations: drinking is not a primary feature of them, although definitely love figures prominently, in a restrained sort of way; I see no enjambment between couplets, however, and although none of the poems includes his name, many of the poems end with a first-person self-reference.

Speaking of those leaps between couplets, I am reminded of a passage by one Idis Parry quoted in Alan Watt's The Book:

What guarantee is there that the five senses, taken together, do cover the whole of possible experience? They cover simply our actual experience, our human knowledge of facts and events. There are gaps between the fingers; there are gaps between the senses. In these gaps is the darkness which hides the connection between things... This darkness is the source of our vague fears and anxieties, but also the home of the gods.

In a number of the poems, one is left guessing about why the various couplets are sewn together. In others, a multiplicity of connections is possible. In their cryptic construction, ambiguities abound. Clearly, this is a form that takes risks, but can also bring great rewards. In the following poem, for instance, the reader is forced to shift gears emotionally as well as logistically with the shifts in points of view. It is the mind’s hunger for context that finds an implied narrative in the juxtapositions:


THE WISE

She wore a scent like blue light bulbs,
Wore her coat the way trees wear hills.

After the bloodiest campaign in years,
His heart smouldered like an old cigar.

His eyes put down roots for the first time,
The light of crows in his hair.

Every influence caught her off-guard:
A vaginal infection, the phone calls.

He courted his own grief,
He thought she would be his second wife.

No angry objects on this table,
No jack-in-the-box anger from your lips.

I love your failure to communicate,
I love your naked back facing me.


Each of these couplets, of course, could be a separate epigram: a hallmark of the form. The second one, for instance, could be about Donald Rumsfeld. But considering that the first five couplets shift between a man and a woman, a very intense war between the sexes is set up. The second last couplet is a particularly brilliant one: it can be taken as both a climax of the implied narrative, and negation of the tension, depending on whether one takes it as a command or an observation. Considering the intensity of the previous couplets, and of that image of “jack-in-the-box anger” that quite literally shoots out from the page, it commands attention, in any case; even when one says “there is no anger”, presence of anger is invoked. Similarly the title, “The Wise”: is it ironic? Does it suggest the process these characters must go through to become wise? The denouement is a lovely one, a celebration of beauty, and yet an unresolved tension: it could be taken as playfully tender, or deeply ironic, all at once.

Googling Eric and ghazals, I found this link, where you can read articles by Eric and others about the form, as well as a couple of other poems from the collection, including a personal favourite, "Just Another Yuppie Raising Children".

North-Eastern Anti-Ghazals is (on the surface of it) a plain production on ordinary paper comprising 15 poems; it is, as with all chapbooks, one of those instant rarities. Published by above/ground press in Ottawa, it can be obtained here.

Off to Edmonton!

Edmonton's Xanadu -- otherwise known as the West Edmonton Mall

Tomorrow morning I'll be off to Edmonton for five days to attend the Canadian League of Poets' AGM/Poetry Fest. There I'll be taking part in meetings of the National Council, attending panel discussions (those that interest me most this year are Form Poetry and Technology: Enabling Poetic Collaboration -- these and others are open to the public, by the way), participating in an open mike, attending the Anne Szumigalski lecture (this year it's being given by Mark Abley), a reception/awards dinner, and taking part in the book launch announced below. I'm also looking forward to a pub crawl and dinner, conversation and sharing of poetry with League friends. And of course, I'll be checking out the town, including the Xanadu above. (Actually, following the logic of the poem, this would be the pleasure dome and Edmonton the Xanadu -- but calling it Xanadu seems so much more evocative of its bizarre bazaar Byzantine qualities...)

UNDRESSING THE NIGHT

launch

at Edmonton City Hall

Edmonton, Alberta

Saturday, June 9, 7-9pm

under the auspices of the

Canadian League of Poets AGM & Poetry Fest

The Quebec Report

For this year's Canadian League of Poet's Annual General Meeting (which takes place in Edmonton -- and I'll be there), one of my little tasks as the League's Quebec Rep was to write a report on what went on in the province poetry-wise since last the last AGM. It will be included in the League newsletter.

In writing this draft, one of my chief aims was to relate the news without becoming too smarmy. Smarminess is a major pitfall in this sort of tribute-making. I also deliberately included news of a number of considerable Quebec anglo poets who are not, at the present time, LCP members; this to provide a more complete picture and prevent an excess of self-congratulatory insularity; in other words, more smarminess.

For those who are not interested in our provincial scene (which actually means, but for a brief escapade at the Festival de la Poesie de Trois Rivieres, the city of Montreal, or rather a certain Anglo town within it about the size of London, Ontario) I suggest you scroll down. But just skimming through the names makes for quite an impressive litany of literary production-- just a small indication of how absolutely fecund, telluric, and pullulating this corner of the world is. (See? I've fallen into it already. No, I must keep my guard.)

To look up any of the LCP members mentioned below, most of their bios and links can be found in this member's list.

NEWS FROM QUEBEC

by Brian Campbell

This year saw plenty of productivity on the part of Quebec LCP members and other poets. Clearly, Anglo literary publication does not falter dans la belle province. English language spoken word and poetry readings also continue to make vital contributions to Quebec’s cultural scene.

This past year, Stephanie Bolster published two chapbooks: Past The Roman Arena And The Cedar Of Lebanon with Delirium Press and Biodöme with above/ground press. Her first GG’s award winning book, White Stone: The Alice Poems will appear in French with Les Editions du Noroït in Autumn 2007, translated by Daniel Canty.

Compromis, the translation by Florence Buathier of Maxianne Berger’s How We Negotiate, was published by Écrits des forges in October.

Last October also saw the publication and launch of the anthology Freedom: In Support of Prisoners of Conscience, edited by Endre Farkas, Elias Letelier and Carolyn Marie Souaid. FREEDOM includes Canada’s poet laureate Pauline Michel, former laureate George Bowering, Carolyn Marie Souaid, Endre Farkas, Elias Letelier, Geoffrey Cook, Jorge Etcheverry, Katherine Beeman, and Caesar Castellio. For more information, see www.poetas.com

Catherine Kidd launched a new dvd/book 'Bipolar Bear' this past November. This year also saw the publication of her long-awaited novel, Missing the Ark (conundum press, Montreal), launched at this April’s Blue Metropolis festival.

Bryan Sentes came out with his second trade edition, Ladonian Magnitudes, at the end of last year (DC Books).

Brian Campbell – it feels strange to refer to myself in the third person -- launched his translation of Francisco Santos’ Undressing the Night: Selected Poems (Editorial Lunes: Costa Rica) this June. Santos is a Nicaraguan poet who lives in Toronto. The book is also being launched at this year’s AGM.

Erin Mouré published her fifteenth collection, O Cadoiro (House of Anansi, 2007.)

Carolyn Zonailo published her new book, the moon with mars in her arms, (the title is all lower case), with Ekstasis Editions in Victoria, BC, and placed her literary papers at Simon Fraser University.

Stephen Morrissey continues to publish on-line chapbooks at www.coraclepress.com and has several new titles on the site, including associate member Claudia Morrison’s The Rhythm of Loss.

Fortner Anderson launched two mini-cd’s, He sings and six silk purses, which have tracked well on campus radio.

Montreal-based DC Books, which prominently features poetry in its publishing lists, celebrated its 20^th Anniversary with a reading/launch at April’s Blue Metropolis Festival. Poets featured were Todd Swift (who launched his fourth poetry collection, Winter Tennis, at this event) and Jason Camlot, whose New and Selected Poems was launched a month earlier.

Other prominent Quebec-based poets who produced books over the past year included David Solway, whose Reaching for Clear: The Poetry of Rhys Savarin adds to his translations, Ann Diamond who published a novel called Static Control, and Susan Elmslie, whose I, Nadja and Other Poems (Brick Books) won the Quebec Writer’s Federation 2006 A.M. Klein Award for Poetry.

Kelly Norah Drukker, a recently-joined associate member, was the 2^nd place winner of the 2006 CBC Literary Award for Poetry. Yours truly (Brian Campbell) was a finalist for said award.

On the reading scene, the Atwater Poetry Project featured, among others, Ray Hsu, Gail Scott, and Fred Wah.

The Poetry and Prose Reading series (at Montreal’s Yellow Door and, on occasion, the Visual Arts Centre) continued apace, every month on the first Thursday of each month. Quebec members featured there included Anne Cimon, Carole Marie Souaid, Claudia Morrison, Joshua Auerbach, Geoffry Cook, Carolyn Zonailo, Kelly Nora Drukker. Out-of-province members included Catherine Owen and rob mclennan…

With Ilona Martonfi, the host of that series, Carolyn Zonailo organizes Lovers and Others reading series, now in its sixth or seventh year. This year it was at O'Regans Pub on Bishop in Montreal.

Words and Music, Montreal’s spoken word nexus, also continued to spotlight some of Quebec’s hottest talents. Most evenings were hosted by Ian Ferrier. Catherine Kidd, Fortner Anderson and ex-member Asa Boxer, were among the many poets and spoken word artists featured.

Carolyn Marie Souaid was particularly active this year. She & Endre Farkas collaborated to produce the radio poem "Blood is Blood" which was aired on CBC Radio One's Outfront on December 18^th. Carolyn was also featured in the Quebec Writer’s Federation “Writer’s Out Loud” series in the month of September. She, along with Maxianne Berger and Rae Marie Taylor, also read in Trois-Rivières for the 22nd Festival internationale de la poésie, in October.

The League of Canadian Poets (W)Rites of Spring reading/fundraiser at Montreal’s Depanneur Café was the first of its sort in Quebec in a few years. It was a small but joyous event, attracting an audience of 18 (including the 9 performers: on croit à l’egalité!) and raising after expenses $60 for the league. Featured readers included Kelly Norah Drukker, Maxianne Berger, Brian Campbell, Stephen Morrissey, Carolyn Zonailo, Ian Ferrier, and Jennifer Boire. Paul Serralheiro (jazz guitar) provided the music and backup for Mr. Ferrier. Special thanks go to Maxianne, who set up the evening for me while I made an emergency trip to a medical clinic.

The saddest news I have to relate is the passing of Artie Gold, author of a number of remarkable collections including City Flowers, Before Romantic Words, and his selected The Beautiful Chemical Waltz. A memorial reading packed Montreal’s Word bookstore this April. The benefit for me is that I discovered a brilliant poet I wish I had known when he was alive. For a touching memoir, see Stephen Morrissey’s Remembering Artie Gold at www.coraclepress.com

Local scene...

LEAGUE OF CANADIAN POETS (W)RITES OF SPRING
POETRY READING/FUNDRAISER

Le Depanneur Cafe
206 rue Bernard W.
Montreal, Quebec
google map

Sunday March 25
7:30 pm - 10 pm.

$5 suggested donation

Featured Readers: Kelly Norah Drukker (2nd place winner of the 2006 CBC Literary Award, Poetry), Carolyn Souaid, Maxianne Berger, Brian Campbell, Stephen Morrissey, Carolyn Zonailo, Ian Ferrier, Angela Leuck, and others.

Music: Paul Serralheiro (jazz guitar/trumpet)

General public open mike

May this event kick off a spring of revivified creativity for you all!

_____________________________

Post script, March 29: This turned out to be a highly enjoyable event for all who turned out (18 or so, not bad considering it's Montreal + the first time I put on one of these things). For me, standouts -- besides myself (but clearly I'm biased here) -- included Kelly Norah Drukker, whose writing reminds me of Roo Borson's at times, and Maxianne Berger, whose quirky, whimsical sensibility always captures my interest. Ian Ferrier turned in a good performance accompanied by Paul Serralheiro on guitar. The man behind the cash bar, it turns out, was an award-winning slam poet named Carl Bessette, who put on quite a show in the open set with a masterly recitation in French.

Layin' my balls on the line

Lately I've been having a riproaring squawkbox discussion with a certain poet and evident firebrand named R.W. Watkins. (The bio says he's in Newfoundland, but my site meter indicates he's writing somewhere from somewhere way up near Churchill, Manitoba.) The occasion was my post commemorating the passing of Artie Gold, a remarkable Montreal poet who I did not have the fortune of knowing or reading during his lifetime. Someone in the comments asked for the cause of death, and when I found a Montreal Gazette obituary praising him as "one of Canada's finest poets" but also stating the cause of death, I posted it simply to answer that question.

This was the flamewar blast I received:

Oh great! Isn't that typical! Even those mediocre assholes who run things at the League of Canadian Poets are suddenly calling Artie Gold "one of Canada's finest poets" now that he's dead!

Twenty years ago, he was just another 'government-funded joke'--someone whose books wound up in our high school library because they were--in the words of one of our teachers--"commie-homo junk that the tax-wasting Canada Council couldn't sell". Just a year ago, I did a search of the internet to discover that he was just another lost name from Canada's poetic past--even folk who once wrote and published with him no longer knew where he was or even if he was still alive.

Poor ol' Artie. I'll never forget his satirization of comic book and cartoon characters in 'private eye', from 'before Romantic Words' (1979); that's one of my all-time favourite humourous pieces by any poet. Ripping off and reading his work from our high school library, I can unmistakenly dub him an early influence on the work of Kent Burt and myself.

The moronic, hypocritical and expedient editors and LCP dictators (who probably never even heard of him--let alone read him--prior to his passing) who now praise him posthumously should have his longest poems forcibly tattooed on their genitalia while driving through mountain country on a gravel road.

--R. W. Watkins (poet, essayist and editor of Contemporary Ghazals)

Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:55:00 AM

Ow! My response is as follows:

Brian Campbell said...

You make my balls hurt with your invective. I'm actually (as of the last few months) the Quebec representative on the LCP national council. I don't know if you're aware of that. I don't make a great to-do of it (i.e. it's not in my bio) because that, in itself, is no great achievement (indeed, could well be taken as the opposite).

Mediocrity abounds everywhere...but so it does among the LCP's detractors. For my nuanced views on the worth and absurdity of the League, check out my post of June 23, 2005.

I just cut and pasted that bit from the Montreal Gazette to to answer Lunamoth's question. I don't know who wrote it. I make it plain that I didn't know AG myself, but then I was disconnected from any sort of "poetry scene" myself for a good ten or twelve years. A few days after this post I found an AG poem I very much liked, and posted it, for the betterment of the world. Read with your eyes, man.

If AG was "government funded" (joke or not), if he was published by Vehicule, it could be that the LCP had something to do with it. If I let you use my blog as your ranting platform, it's because your 3rd paragraph is both an impassioned testiment of his worth and contains some valuable info. But spare us the venom. It doesn't do anybody any good.

Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:50:00 AM

Mr. Watkins epistled back thusly:

"Spare the venom"...? Oh, Brian, Brian, Brian...THAT is one of the biggest problems inherent in Canadian poetry (and the arts in general) today: too much incest and not enough venom. No healthy arguing or the occasional drunken bar brawl means no competition, and no competition means the same old boring junk, year after year after year after year. It's so typical of an over-mannered country like Canada--so Marxist and extreme in all the wrong areas. Oh, how I miss Mordecai Richler--our last major author who could compete in every way with the American writers who came out of the '40s and '50s! The fact that poets now have to give readings in smokefree pubs and coffee shops tells me everything I need to know about the Canadian approach to the arts: In a state where health and longevity take priority over Dionysian self-sacrifice, one must come to expect that seminal work of any great value and integrity will be rather short in supply.

As for the LCP and the Canada Council, I used to be an associate member of the former, and I received funding for a solo volume of ghazals I wrote back in '99-'01 from the latter. I soon abandoned the former once I realised that it served very little real purpose, other than as a self-congratulatory institution--a fine place where (mostly) third- and fourth-rate poets can take solace in each other's mediocrity (things haven't changed much since F.R. Scott mocked such collectives back in the '40s and '50s). As well, I was disturbed by the fact that LCP members were always smiling in newsletter photographs--as if life was indeed good under Stalin/Tito/Mao, and their progress reports to the Canuckistani Council of Ministers--in the form of pointless, state-praising poems and accounts of Canada Council funds deployment--would state as much. The LCP also appeared to cater to free verse authors exclusively--I have a feeling that the majority of its members could not work in a closed form and compose a proper sestina or ghazal in a month of amphetamine-fueled Sundays, so lacking are they in true poetic talent. They seemed content to remain merely harmless, government-funded hacks--Bukowski and Atwood imitators who haven't a clue what Bukowski was all about, or how average Atwood was at her poetic zenith. When the first issue of my seminal Contemporary Ghazals journal was published a few years ago and promoted in the LCP's newletter, the fact that not one single member responded to its existence told me everything I needed to know about the 'lofty' visions of the LCP and the sad state of Canadian poetry in general. If it wasn't all so damned pathetic, it would be truly laughable. Thankfully, the more serious poets south of the border were more receptive, thereby making the project a worthwhile little venture after all.

As for the Canada Council--a good and worthwhile idea once upon a time--the problem lies with the manner in which projects are selected for grants, and the manner in which the selection committee is appointed in the first place (a process which, apparently, no one is willing to properly divulge). If authors/artists (once they had fulfilled eligibility criteria) were to have their names drawn at random, lottery style, for available grants, then I might have some faith in the system. As it stands now, it's just another case of "it's not what you know, but who you know". And, of course, there's always the matter of socioeconomicpolitico compromise: How can I be taken seriously as an independent and/or radical voice when I'm ultimately receiving funding from a federal government, with whose extreme-left and/or extreme-right ideals I may take issue? In regards to my own grant-awarded project, I decided to put the finished volume on the back burner indefinitely. The manuscript has never been sent out for consideration, even though many of the poems in it have been published in various places over the years. Someday, I might publish it myself.

To be blunt, Brian--and you know this as well as I do--the vast, vast majority of poetry (and increasingly other literary forms) being published by established houses and high-production magazines/journals in Canada today are the 'adult contemporary' or 'easy listening' of the verse world. In fact, I'm amazed at how books of all types being published here in Newfoundland have come to resemble nothing as much as tourist brochures--a lucrative investment, don't you think?--funding authors and publishers who will (unwittingly in many cases?) serve to combine/equate the arts and tourism industries. Very, very tricky. No Paris-in-the-'20s or NYC-in-the-'50s will be happening in Canada any time soon--one can rest assured of that. In fact, I have literally fallen asleep while reading many such books and journals from across Canada, and when it comes to my reviews (whether for the journals/zines I am directly involved with, or others from around North America), I rarely find myself covering poetry volumes that aren't either self published or published by small collectives these days. Frankly, whenever I see "published with the assistance of the Canada Council" on page 3, I start to cringe a little; my doubting mechanism is rarely (and sadly) proven invalid.

So that's my take on it, Brian. Thus lieth within the want--the need--for piths and venom.

One more thing: I'm trying to put together a little internet poetry project that kind of relates to some of the themes I've just dealt with above. If I can get enough people interested, and get it off the ground, your opinions might be valued. So watch this space....


--R. W. Watkins--

Sunday, March 18, 2007 3:39:00 PM

Actually, my estimation of this fellow RW went up tenfold with this articulation of his views. My missive in response:

Brian Campbell said...

You provide a lot to respond to -- but this time, I agree almost completely with what you say. This is healthy dialogue.

My real objection to your previous "venomous" post is that you made my balls hurt, and unfairly I think.

Venom is good, if intelligently directed at the right targets. As this last missive demonstrates. (But I agree that is not always easy: sometimes an outburst is needed to clear the air, as seems to be the case here.)

I think this dialogue shouldn't be consigned to the comments section but should be posted and readily accessible on Google. Do you agree? But let me wait a few days. I like the look of my guitar up there; I don't want to push it down into netherland just yet.

P.S. The receiving of grants or publishing support from government or corporate foundations always presents a quandary: how hard (and when) to bite the hand that feeds you? It seems ridiculous to refuse any such support when it comes from a relatively reasonable body like the Canadian government... but one still has to reserve the right to denounce hypocrisy and injustice when the need arises. Keep me informed about your project.

Sunday, March 18, 2007 4:37:00 PM

The discussion continues, so if you want to read more, go here.

This past weekend was the League of Canadian Poets' AGM in Ottawa. Although I had other commitments and couldn't go, I was nominated in absentia to represent Quebec and Nunavut on the executive, and as there were no other contestants for the job, I imagine I was voted in. I did, by the way, concede interest in taking over, after Carolyn Marie Souaid approached me when she decided to step down... and after she assured me it wouldn't take up too much of my time... just a conference call a month and an entry on Quebec events in the irregular newsletter. Otherwise the slate's open: I could organize a reading for members in Montreal, or whatever. In return, I'll be more plugged in to opportunities the league offers, get to know other writers, etc. Nunavut? Well, there are no members there. Maybe I should get funding to fly up there and find some poets. To read my bemused take on the League, which I wrote last year, see here. Funny, I was speculating there on the possibility of becoming Quebec rep., perhaps, but "not any time soon". Beware of what you speculate, especially in public. (Carolyn did read my blog...)
....
Funny, just after writing this the postman dropped off a big package from the league. Inside was a binder with headings like League's By Law, How to Organize Your Fundraising Event, Membership Benefits, Council and Committee List (oh! I'm on it, hmm, wonder how that happened?), etc.