Chinatown Ghosts: The Poems and Photographs of Jim Wong-Chu by Jim Wong-Chu Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018 $19.95 / 9781551527482 Reviewed by LiLynn Wan First published April 13, 2019 * When Chinatown Ghosts was first published in 1986, Jim Wong-Chu broke a silence in Canadian literature. This slim volume of poetry was one of the…
Read more #529 Poems & portraits of Chinatown
Quarrels by Eve Joseph Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2018 $18.00 / 9781772141191 Reviewed by Paul Falardeau First published April 11, 2019 * On April 9, 2019, Victoria poet Eve Joseph, for her book Quarrels, was announced as one of three Canadian finalists for the handsomely-endowed 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize, along with Ontario poets Sarah Tolmie and…
Read more #528 Fleeting moments that matter
Upend by Kevin Spenst Victoria: Frog Hollow Press, 2018 $15.00 / 9781926948652 Reviewed by David Stouck First published April 1, 2019 * In Vancouver’s poetry scene Kevin Spenst was probably first noted for his inventive forms of self-advertising. To promote an early chapbook titled Fast Fictions (2007) he printed and distributed a map of where…
Read more #522 Nurse log and a Great Blue Heron
Beyond Forgetting: Celebrating 100 Years of Al Purdy by Howard White and Emma Skagen (editors), with a foreword by Steven Heighton Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2018 $22.95 / 9781550178463 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb First published Mar. 31, 2019 * A book of poems about a poet. What a notion. But actually poets often write about…
Read more #521 The Al Purdy Poets’ Society
Almost Islands: Phyllis Webb and the Pursuit of the Unwritten by Stephen Collis Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $24.95 / 9781772012071 Reviewed by Sharon Thesen * Literary friendships are the source of more compositional energy than we usually give them credit for. As Stephen Collis reminds us in this deeply engaging book-length essay set within his friendship…
Read more #515 Fulford Harbour’s silent poet
Bite Me! Musings on Monsters and Mayhem by Joe Rosenblatt Erin, Ontario: Porcupine’s Quill, 2019 $16.95 / 9780889844247 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * The day after Joe Rosenblatt died, his last book arrived in pre-publication digital format. I don’t want to write an elegy; others are doing that. It turns out I don’t need to;…
Read more #510 Joe’s monsters and critters
A Violent Streak by Stephanie Warner Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2018 $15.00 / 9781554554461 Reviewed by Elee Kraljii Gardiner * The epigraph that opens Stephanie Warner’s debut collection of poetry, A Violent Streak, is a definition of the word “speed.” Given that the dominant themes and places of this group of poems have to…
Read more #508 Sex, speed, and moonshine
A Lamb by P.W. Bridgman Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2018 $23.95 / 9781771712736 Reviewed by David Stouck * I first encountered P.W. Bridgman (a pen name) when he reviewed a collection of Ethel Wilson’s letters for the Globe and Mail. Ethel Wilson would certainly have delighted in A Lamb, his newly published book of poetry. Herein…
Read more #505 Ethel Wilson would approve
Joe Rosenblatt (1933-2019) An obituary by Alan Twigg * “Joe was one of the most generous and kind artists [of any genre] I ever met, a truly lovely person, and a real genius.” — Phyllis Reeve “Poetry provides an environment for people to share their feral fantasies, although very rarely do wild phantasms morph into…
Read more #504 Joe Rosenblatt (1933-2019)
Exposed by Eileen Curteis Terrace: CCB Publishing, 2018 $44.06 (via Amazon) / 9781771433594 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * A poem named “Simplicity” begins: “There’s nothing complex/ about the rain.” I ponder the significance of that statement, which seems to me debatable. Then a personality named Simplicity enters the poem to tell us the “soft drizzle”…
Read more #498 Poems of faith and simplicity
What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation by Rob Taylor (editor) Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2018 $22.95 / 9780889713437 Reviewed by John Pass * A poet may not be the best person to review What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation, edited by Rob Taylor. While my interest and commitment to the task…
Read more #491 Poetry beyond the dumpster fires
Practical Anxiety by Heidi Greco Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2018 $18.95 / 9781771335812 Reviewed by Andrew Parkin First published Feb. 13, 2019 * Heidi Greco is known already from her previous books of poetry, notably those about Amelia Earhart, A: The Amelia Poems (Lipstick Press, 2009) and Flightpaths (Caitlin, 2017). I enjoyed her live reading from…
Read more #485 Honouring everyday anxieties
He Speaks Volumes: A Biography of George Bowering by Rebecca Wigod Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $24.95 / 9781772012064 Reviewed by Kathy Mezei First published Feb. 12, 2019 * What a great title. For George Bowering does speak volumes; he is out-spoken, loud, witty, loquacious, a “talk producer” as Virginia Woolf once described a character. And, as…
Read more #484 A life in books: George Bowering
The Splendour & The Suffering/El Esplendor y el Sufrimiento: Poems and Travels in Mexico by Doug Beardsley, translated by Celso Cambiazo Victoria: Island Blue Book Printing, Arcos Spanish Translations, 2018. Available from Amazon.ca $19.95 / 9781999442200 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published Jan. 13, 2019 * A turbulent yet alluring place, Mexico has a long…
Read more #464 A turbulent, alluring place
The Small Way by Onjana Yawnghwe Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2018 $18.00 / 9781987915778 Reviewed by Renée Saklikar First published December 6, 2018 * We were speaking then of necessary journeys, of the way the reading of a book might become a crossing-over into other people’s territory, for instance into those migrations that are within…
Read more #441 Small journeys, big change
Duets: Sonnets of Louise Labé and Guido Cavalcanti by Edward Byrne Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $16.95 / 9781772011999 Reviewed by Andrew Parkin * Canadian poet Edward Byrne’s book is described as “a translation” of sonnets of Louise Labé (1522-1566) and Guido Cavalcanti (circa 1255-1300). The poems published in this book are not sonnets in terms of the…
Read more #439 Kissing through a handkerchief
The Governor General’s Literary Awards of Canada: A Bibliography by Andrew David Irvine with the assistance of Edmond Rivère and Stephanie Tolman Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2018 $79.95 / 9780776627397 Les Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général du Canada: Une bibliographie by Andrew David Irvine, with the assistance of Edmond Rivère and Stephanie Tolman Ottawa:…
Read more #430 Looking back at the GGs
Nicholas Bradley reviews two books: Intertidal: The Collected Earlier Poems, 1968–2008 by Daphne Marlatt, edited by Susan Holbrook Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2017 $49.95 / 9781772011784 * Scree: The Collected Earlier Poems, 1962–1991 by Fred Wah, edited by Jeff Derksen Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2015 $49.95 / 9780889229471 First published Nov. 14, 2018 * * Landslip and Delta: A…
Read more #423 Landslip and delta
Some End / West Broadway by George Bowering and George Stanley Vancouver: New Star Books, 2018 $18.00 / 9781554201457 Reviewed by Danny Peart First published October 21st, 2018 * Two of BC’s senior poets, George Stanley (born 1934) and George Bowering (born 1935) contribute opposite halves to a flip or tumble book from New Star…
Read more #404 A tumble with George
Quills is published by William Byron Sheardown of Vancouver, British Columbia. Byron is a printer and has been publishing magazines since the age of 18. Quills Magazine comes from Byron’s deep love of poetry and his desire to create a national literary vehicle for which poets from all parts of Canada can unite to experience…
Read more Quills Poetry Magazine