Quill and Quire

Poetry

The Alchemy of Happiness

By Marilyn Bowering

Alchemy. The word conjures images of medieval laboratories, of quasi-magical transformations, and, perhaps most importantly, of failure. For despite their many important contributions to modern science, the medieval alchemists ultimately failed in their primary goal: ... Read More »

November 20, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Careful

By Jacqueline Turner

Careful, Jacqueline Turner’s second poetry collection, is partitioned into nine sections, most of which feature short-line, lower-case poems that form lexical stalactites creeping down the left-hand margin of the page. As random words percolate, the ... Read More »

November 20, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Disarmament

By John Terpstra

The bleak, hopeful town of Hamilton, Ontario – with its steel mills and slowly resurgent parklands – finds an apt poet laureate in John Terpstra. His seventh collection, Disarmament, focuses mainly on the city’s landscapes ... Read More »

November 19, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Parlance

By Suzanne Zelazo

Though Parlance is her first book-length publication of poetry, Toronto poet Suzanne Zelazo’s name is likely familiar to many through her role as editor of the Queen Street Quarterly. This literary magazine has a reputation ... Read More »

November 11, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Director’s Cut

By David Solway

Few critics match the moral urgency of David Solway, whose poetry reviews constitute an anti-canon to the literati’s assessment of its own merits. Solway’s debunking of celebrated poets, from Atwood to Zwicky, has earned him ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Your Last Day on Earth

By Carla Hartsfield

Toronto poet Carla Hartsfield is a true Renaissance woman. Her biography states that she is, by turns, a poet, painter, songwriter, and classical/pop musician. Sometimes, as she demonstrates in her third collection of poetry, Your ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Into the Early Hours

By Aislinn Hunter

Given the critical recognition awarded her first book of stories published earlier this year, it comes as no surprise that B.C. writer Aislinn Hunter is an accomplished storyteller. Crossing genres with her second book, Hunter ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry

Days into Flatspin

By Ken Babstock

With his second collection of poetry, Days into Flatspin, Toronto poet Ken Babstock proves himself to be one of the “lords of the little gestures” that he cites in the book’s epigraph. His poems are ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Poetry