spring loaded, by: sean dowd, published: in fight press, 1845 botsford street, ottawa on K1G 1N6 canada. price $4.25
spring loaded has a great cover: a heavy cream cover-stock and two colour offset. the interior is on plain white paper with poor print quality. the poetry is acceptable, but does not reflect the quality one would expect from a high school teacher. Dowds' poems are about nature and canoeing. the author tries to convey the profoundness of nature and its effect on him. this chapbook could have used an editor, it's the most common problem of self-published work. "canoe in hand/ the last snows/ stand to remind man of lifes cruel hand/ while whispers from/ the waters flow/ ..." from the flow, and "quiet quiet/ then the rush/ we join/ all hands/ we join the rush/ the rush, it lives/ and yet it dies/ as now within us/ all are drives/ do move us/ smooth us/ smooth our lives/ ...." from winter's hush. i read these words, but they never take me off the page, i feel the attempt at flight, yet never get off the ground. with more work i'm sure that dowds' work will improve
nineteen poems, by: lucas mulder, published: underwhich press, po box 262 adelaide st. station, toronto on M5C 2J4 canada. price $10.00 this is a limited addition of fifty copies.
nineteen poems is a hand-bound chapbook using hand made cover-stock, which is a soft wrinkled texture slate green and the interior is natural brown, with a hand stitched binding. this is an eclectic collection of poems ranging from the style of bpnichol to rhythmic, lyrical and visual poems. it will challenge you to accept new limits on language. in mulder's own words from an instructional, "let all thots go/ experience, first hand, the line:" and might i add the word. in poems such as my sister, united or impetus, "'laughter' itself slaps knee/ sits down all-crooked on the page......the bowl she/ hands me/ is no-/ thing but space/ which tea has filled/ & slowly we drain..." it is clear to see that mulder crafts his words carefully and the result is a beautiful and thought provoking chapbook. the only problem i had with this work may be one of my own and that is, i had a difficult time with some of mulders' visual poetry. for instance i never figured out what the alphabet machine was all about. i however am not going to hold this against the author, because i truly enjoyed the bulk of the work and i see in this chapbook a poet of great promise.
alden nowlan: selected poems, edited by: patrick lane and lorna crozier, published: house of anansi, 1800 steeles ave. west, concord on L4K 2P3 canada. price $18.00, pp. 173
this is the newest anthology since an exchange of gifts, was published in 1985 two years after nowlans death. that book was formatted so that the chosen poems appeared in the ordered they appeared in their original publication, this was also in chronological order. this new anthology selected poems, with a wonderful forward by patrick lane and lorna crozier, features 33 poems not found in an exchange of gifts. if you have not read the poems of alden nowlan then this would be an excellent book to start with and for those all ready familiar with his work this anthology is a great way to once again say hello to the familiar characters. in this book you will be touched by a man who was genuinely honest to his self and to his readers. from his poetry he will show you his compassion for people, a compassion that was as natural to him as breathing. alden nowlan may have been known during his life time as a maritime writer, but as lane & crozier illustrate nowlan was also a great canadian poet. i will always remember him as the grownup version of the pillsbury doughboy. him, richard hatfield and a few friends at goofy roofies at the saturday morning farmers market in fredericton enjoying a morning coffee and a whole lot of conversation. at that time i sort of knew who he was, the fact that it was rumoured that he was a poet made me keep a safe distance away. maybe it's because of ideas like; "oh, admit this man, there's no point in poetry/ if you withhold the truth/ once you've come by it_", from: and he wept aloud, so that the egyptians heard it. and i think we may all know a street like this one; "this is a street at war..(here children fight amongst themselves to survive and when mothers call to their children it's like their very name is a curse)..in all that time/ have never once heard/ a gentle word spoken./ i like to tell myself that is only because/ gentle words are whispered/ and harsh words shouted." from: britain street. i would like to quote something from ypres: 1915, but i don't think that would do justice to the poem. to break a piece of this poem off would not let you see the way nowlan brought home the horror of that battle. how he brings you from the universal issues of war to the personal moment of one "billy mcnally of south end saint john, new brunswick" and then back to the reader again. nowlan's brilliance shines through in this poem as he makes the life of billy mcnally relevant and meaningful in the face of those broader issues of war. finally i think alden nowlan in many ways is like the character the jellybean man from the poem of the same name. nowlan gave us his poetry like jellybeans for no other reason than love.
*five-o'clock shadows, available from letters bookshop, 77 florence st., studio 104, toronto on M6K 1P4 Canada
b stephen harding
Have you seen the writing on the wall
Managing
Editor: b stephen
harding, Editor: Robert Craig, Consulting Editor: Seymour
Mayne, Art Consultant: Kane Faucher
Guest Editor: Tamara Fairchild
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