five christmas ideas #3

Here we are at year three of my little CanPo promotion project (you can read the last two years' entries here and here)! As always, I'm looking to make this year's list bigger and better than the last. And what's hotter among the industry's best at moving product (GGs, Griffin, I'm looking at you) than a whiff of "conflict of interest"? As you'll see below, I've done my best to pack in some scandal (really I just picked my five favourite books I read in 2011, but let's pretend, ok?). I even developed a numerical system to make clear my biases and underhanded allegiances, because I am nothing if not generous to my detractors!

Enough preamble. Here are my suggestions of five new-ish Canadian poetry books for poetry fans and maybe-possibly-soon-to-become poetry fans alike:


A Doctor Pedalled Her Bicycle Over the River Arno by Matt Rader, House of Anansi, 2011

Matt Rader? Never heard of him. He's a Canadian poet, currently living in Salmon Arm (thanks for the update, Facebook nitpicker!). That said, he usually lives on Vancouver Island (thanks for the subsequent update, second Facebook nitpicker!). This is his third book of poetry. Here's more!

Does Doug Ford know this guy? Man, I'd look so dumb if he did and I didn't... No, I think you're safe.

What's so great about this book? Rader writes well-crafted, beautiful poems. As Ian Letourneau says, "Rader is a confident poet. There is no ponderousness here. The poems are direct, sure of themselves." The book really shines in its two sections that were previously published as chapbooks, Reservations and (especially) Customs, which explores the lynching of Louie Sam.

Ok, so the quality is there. But what about quantity? Am I getting good bang for my buck? It features 35 poems and costs $22.95, or a mere $0.66 per poem. Ok, to be honest, that's $0.16 cents more per poem than any book I've highlighted over the last two years. Anansi raised the price of their books by four dollars this year! But still, what would you rather buy for $0.66: a top-of-the-line Matt Rader poem or a Peruvian haircut? Ah, but before you answer, remember that the haircut cost excludes airfare. That's where the Peruvian barbers get you every time!

If I only have a minute in the bookstore, what one poem should I read? "Weeds", p. 47.

Should I buy this on Amazon? Please no. Here's a good reason.

What's in this for you? You promised me some juicy conflict of interest. We're from the same province? That's all I can think of. Oh, and Anansi is the only publisher that's had a poem on each of the three lists I've made. How I wish they were paying me under the table and/or I was owned by Scott Griffin, but it's just not true.

I'm not sure how outraged I should be by that answer. Can you compare that to another scandal, and rate it on a ten-point scale? The Griffin Prize's "Toronto/Anansi Bias" Thing, 2 out of 10 UZWs (Unimpressed Zach Wells').

Discovery Passages by Garry Thomas Morse, Talonbooks, 2011

Garry Thomas Morse? Never heard of him. He's a Canadian poet, living in Vancouver. This is his second book of poetry. Here's more!

Does Doug Ford know this guy? Man, I'd look so dumb if he did and I didn't... No, I think you're safe.

What's so great about this book? In Discovery Passages Morse blends his personal history, Kwakwaka’wakw history and legend, and the lives and acts of such controversial figures as Duncan Campbell Scott and Franz Boas into a powerful, sweeping, fierce (and often funny), suite of poems. Lorraine Weir thinks Discovery Passages should soon "find itself among the canonic texts of contemporary Indigenous and Canadian writing." I'm not big into sainthood, but I think it's a really good book.

Ok, so the quality is there. But what about quantity? Am I getting good bang for my buck? Discovery Passages delivers 30 poems for the low, low price of $17.95. That's $0.59 a poem, which is still more expensive than anything from the last two years, but looks pretty good next to Matt "Peruvian Haircut" Rader.

If I only have a minute in the bookstore, what one poem should I read? "BCP #95", p. 93.

Should I buy this on Amazon? Please no. Here's another good reason.

What's in this for you? You promised me some juicy conflict of interest. I know Garry personally. He let me read at his reading series last month. He's reading at mine next month. We tweet. I hope sales of his editions will reap largesse.

I'm not sure how outraged I should be by that answer. Can you compare that to another scandal, and rate it on a ten-point scale? The 2008 Governor General's Award Controversy in content, and The 2011 Governor General's Award Brouhaha in intensity, 6 out of 10 UZWs.

Where We Might Have Been by Don Coles, Signal Editions (Vehicule Press), 2010

Don Coles? Never heard of him. He's a Canadian poet, living in Toronto. This is his eleventh book of poetry. Here's more!

Does Doug Ford know this guy? Man, I'd look so dumb if he did and I didn't... No, I think you're safe.

What's so great about this book? It's Don Coles, in all his wandering loveliness. He's the king of the killer ending. Just when you think he's ambled way too far off track to be able to bring it all together, he pulls it off with one brilliant line. As Kenneth Sherman puts it, "It is difficult to think of another poet whose style is so unmannered, whose tone is so engagingly true." This may not be Coles' best work (he has a lot to compete with), but it's definitely his very-good work, which is still far better than just about anything else being written in this country.

Ok, so the quality is there. But what about quantity? Am I getting good bang for my buck? It's 16 (mostly long) poems for $18.00 or... wow... $0.88 a poem. Records are falling this year, it seems. Poetic inflation? Gone are the heady days of $0.16 John Newlove poems, that's for sure. Really though, $0.88 still isn't that bad. At that price your options are a long, "unmannered" Don Coles poem or an 88% meat Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme. I rest my case.

If I only have a minute in the bookstore, what one poem should I read? "A Walk in the Woods", p. 13.

Should I buy this on Amazon? Still no. Here's yet another good reason.

What's in this for you? You promised me some juicy conflict of interest. Absolutely nothing on this one. I guess you could say that the book should be disqualified because one of Coles' books was on last year's list. But I make the rules here and that's not one of them.

I'm not sure how outraged I should be by that answer. Can you compare that to another scandal, and rate it on a ten-point scale? The QWFLA "Actually, You've Already Got One" Incident, 0.5 out of 10 UZWs.

Undercurrents: New Voices in Canadian Poetry edited by Robyn Sarah, Cormorant Books, 2011

Robyn Sarah? Never heard of her. She's a Canadian poet, living in Montreal. Here's more. But the writing in the book is by eleven unpublished (in book form) poets, including Amanda Jernigan, Daniel Karasik and Sarah Feldman.

I have a feeling Doug Ford doesn't know any of them. Right? Right.

What's so great about this book? As I hinted at above for the Rader book, I'm a big fan of chapbooks. And this book is, in essence (and by design, according to Sarah's introduction), eleven chapbooks of poems by poets you might not have heard of yet, but will be hearing from soon. I'm used to anthologies of new poets being mixed bags, but there really aren't any duds here. Jernigan, Karasik, Feldman, George Pakozdi and Margo Wheaton stand out particularly, but on a different day I could probably list the work of the other six contributors as equally, or more, enjoyable.

Ok, so the quality is there. But what about quantity? Am I getting good bang for my buck? Undercurrents comes in at 90 poems for $24.00, or $0.27 per poem. It's the value pick of 2011!

If I only have a minute in the bookstore, what one poem should I read? "October" by Sarah Feldman, p. 22.

Oh c'mon, please say I can buy this on Amazon? Look, you can do what you want. But maybe read this first.

What's in this for you? You promised me some juicy conflict of interest. I promised it, and now I'm delivering! Robyn Sarah was the editor for my book (yes, I weaseled a link in somewhere - I knew I could do it!) and Cormorant is my publisher. What can I say? My tastes overlap with theirs a bit...

I'm pretty sure I should be enraged by that answer. Still, just to be safe, can you compare that to another scandal, and rate it on a ten-point scale? The 2011 Governor General's Award Squabble in content, and The 2008 Governor General's Award Embroilment in intensity, 9 out of 10 UZWs.

Winter Cranes by Chris Banks, ECW Press, 2011

Chris Banks? Never heard of him. He's a Canadian poet, living in Waterloo. This is his third book of poetry. Here's more!

Doug Ford doesn't know anyone, it seems. I've been wasting your time with this question, haven't I? Yup.

What's so great about this book? Banks writes long, clean, satisfying sentences (the first one in the book, for instance, rolls over seven lines and moves from friends in a car, to a blizzard, to a description of the local farmland, to the sound a radio playing "Stand by Me" over all of it). In some ways this is much like Don Coles, but Banks usually stays more fixed in an individual moment or object. As Nick Thran says, Banks is "a maestro with the poetry of physical objects, able to stack just the right amount of cordwood, or to jimmy open the basement window just enough to achieve the desired tonal effect." Because the lines run so smoothly and the subject matter is usually clear, tangible stuff, it's easy to breeze through this book. It's also very easy to return to it over and over again, pulling out new moments of pleasure and insight each time.

Ok, so the quality is there. But what about quantity? Am I getting good bang for my buck? Banks gives us 33 poems for $18.95, or $0.57 a poem. Undercurrents is a tough act to follow, but he's still got the best value of any of this year's single-author books.

If I only have a minute in the bookstore, what one poem should I read? "Darkening", p. 11.

But Amazon is soooo cheap.... Look, there's a Wikipedia page dedicated just to their controversies. And it has fourteen sections. And subsections. You're killing me here.

I'm still looking for more conflicts of interest! Spill it. I'm a big fan of Chris' blog (which he doesn't update nearly enough), though we've never met. We've exchanged a couple emails.

I'm not sure how outraged I should be by that answer. Can you compare that to another scandal, and rate it on a ten-point scale? The "Was This Supposed to be a Controversy? I Can't Even Tell Anymore" 2010 Governor General's Award, 3 out of 10 UZWs.

That's it for another year - thanks for reading!

p.s. If you can't get enough CanLit book recommendations, be sure to check out the Advent Book Blog.

an attempt at an online "works cited" for michael lista's bloom

A book club I'm in recently read Michael Lista's Bloom. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the book, much of which focused on Lista's decision to write "approximations" of other poets' poems. I haven't seen much discussion online about this, though in his Globe and Mail review, Nigel Beale describes Bloom as a book that "“misreads,” translates, covers, eclipses, parodies or fucks with a choir of contemporary poetic voices." Lista himself states in an interview with The Torontoist: "I wrote Bloom the way I did because it needed to be written like that." In the same interview he also notes that "creative plagiarism is one of the finest untapped sources of aesthetic possibility available to us today, and it has obvious extra-poetic relevance". In other words, Lista's choice to "approximate" or "translate" or "fuck with" looms large over the text as you read it.

This makes it all the more peculiar that the book includes no citations. The authors being "approximated" are referred to at the end of each poem with an "after So-and-So" tag, but that's it - no listing at the back of the original poems' titles, or the collections in which they appeared. This seems an odd choice for a few reasons: it could appear to be discourteous to the original authors, or suggest that Lista is trying to "get away with something", or alienate those who already feel they are "outside" the world of poetry. Mainly, though, I puzzle over it because of how greatly a reading of Bloom can be enriched by "connecting the dots".

I did a little pre-book club research, and circulated to the group the links to some "originals". Regardless of where group members fell in their final verdict on the book (I, for one, liked it), everyone agreed that reading the originals added significantly to their experience.

Below is my best attempt, using poems already available online, to connect Lista's "approximations" with the original poems. I'm still missing about half of the poems (as the gaps between page numbers indicate), in some cases because the source poems aren't online and in others because I'm not familiar enough with the authors to track the poems down (no titles are given, so you have to remember an idea or line that sticks out, or adeptly choose your Google search words).

If you happen to know of online sources for connections that I've missed, do let me know in the comment field, or by email (roblucastaylor(at)gmail.com), and I'll happily add them. Also, a couple of my guesses may very well be wrong. So lit-nerds, I encourage you to double check!

If you don't have a copy of Bloom on hand, but want to play along, I've linked the titles of all of the Lista poems to audio recordings of him reading them - thanks go to Seen Reading for making those recordings, all of which can be found in one place here.

Hopefully this will help new readers of the book engage more deeply with the text, and perhaps provoke a return to the book for those who've already read it through:

Metempsychosis [1] (p. 6) = John Crowe Ransom's "Janet Walking"


Louis Slotin in Hades (p. 16) = Anne Sexton's "To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph"


Louis Slotin as The Wanderer (p. 21) = W.H. Auden's "The Wanderer" (With a cameo from W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming")


Louis Slotin's Sex Appeal (p. 23) = Irving Layton's "Sex Appeal" (Scroll to the bottom of page 5 of the PDF)


Louis Slotin in Hiroshima (p. 24) = Fitzpatrick Madrigali's "?". (My guess was that Fitzpatrick Madrigali was Lista's own pen name, in order to keep up the appearance that all the poems are "approximated" - and to not diminish the significance of "The Eclipse" being "after Nobody". It turns out I was close, as a student who had Lista visit his class reports that FM is a character in an unpublished novel of Lista's)


Laestrygonians (p. 28) = D.H. Lawrence's "There Are Too Many People"


Louis Slotin and The White Lie (p. 32) = Don Paterson's "The White Lie" (I had previously thought it was connected to Paterson's "The Lie", but Aidan Gowland pointed me in the right direction. Thanks Aidan! And Don, what's up with all the "Lie" poems?)


Sirens (p. 35) = Victor Hugo's "Tomorrow, At Dawn"


Louis Slotin's Flaw (p. 40) = Robert Lowell's "The Flaw"


The Return of Odysseus (p. 45) = Edwin Muir's "The Return"


Do. But Do. (p.47) = Robyn Sarah's "The World Is Its Own Museum"


Louis Slotin and The Green Knight (p.55) = "The Pearl Poet"'s "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight" (Scroll to the bottom of page 9 for the juicy decapitation scene - or read the summary on the Wikipedia page)


Louis Slotin Exits The Office (p. 59) = Fitzpatrick Madrigali's "?" (See "Louis Slotin in Hiroshima (p.24)")


Head of a Dandelion (p. 63) = Alice Oswald's "Head of a Dandelion" (Very quiet audio here)


Louis Slotin's Got The Main Blues (p. 66) = George Johnston's "Home Free"


Metempsychosis [2] (p. 67) = Karen Solie's "Determinism"


Johanna Finds a Reason (p. 69) = The Velvet Underground's "I Found A Reason"


The Coming of Wisdom with Time (p. 70) = W.B. Yeats' "The Coming of Wisdom with Time"


Louis Slotin Circles Kilimanjaro (p. 72) = Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (Scroll down to p. 57 of the text, though the "approximated" part doesn't come until the end of the short story)


Penelope (p.73) = Herman Kahn's "On Escalation: Metaphors and Scenarios" (Thanks to Ariana Ellis for finding this one. I'd originally guessed it was Kahn's "On Thermonuclear War")

If you don't feel like reading a whole Herman Kahn book (or two), this works pretty well as a summary:

five christmas ideas #2

A reliable source has informed me that my "Five Last Minute Christmas Ideas" post from last year generated at least one purchase of a book of Canadian poetry. A less-reliable source has informed me that my pick of Karen Solie's Pigeon as the first of my five recommendations was the deciding factor in last year's Griffin Prize jury deliberation. My sources, reliable or not, agreed that I should do it again this year.

Here, then, are some more suggestions of new-ish poetry books for poetry fans and maybe-possibly-soon-to-become poetry fans alike:

Paper Radio by Damian Rogers, ECW Press, 2009

Who’s Damian Rogers? A poet. A Canadian one. Well, if you consider Detroit to be "North Windsor", in the Journey-lyrics sense. And she's living in Toronto now, which makes her slightly more Canadian. The internet can tell you more.

What’s this book? Sell it to me like it's a Canadian movie. Hmmm... how about "Poems about Shakers. Wait, don't leave! They're really good. I promise!"

I'm a bargain hunter. Is this book a bargain? Well, there are 48 poems and the book costs $16.95, so you pay a mere $0.35 a poem. You tell me. (p.s. The answer is "Yes!")

When I'm in the bookstore considering my purchase, which poem should I read to seal the deal? “New House”, pg. 23.

Ok, I was lying in that last question. My plan was to Google the poem, then buy the book on Amazon. But I couldn't find that poem online! Got another one? "Dream of the Last Shaker", pg. 55. And also here, lazy.

Living Things by Matt Rader, Nightwood Editions, 2008

Who’s Matt Rader? A poet. A Canadian one, even if he lived in Oregon for a while. Still, Oregon's more Canadian than Toronto, so we shouldn't hold it against him. He's on Vancouver Island now. The internet can tell you more.

What’s this book? Sell it to me like it's a Canadian movie. Hmmm... how about "Poems about trees and plants. Wait, don't leave! They're really good. I promise!"

I'm a bargain hunter. Is this book a bargain? Well, there are 46 poems and the book costs $16.95, so you pay a mere $0.37 a poem. Yes, a bargain once again, it seems.

When I'm in the bookstore considering my purchase, which poem should I read to seal the deal? “Emergency Broadcast System”, pg. 49.

Ok, I was lying in that last question. My plan was to Google the poem, then buy the book on Amazon. But I couldn't find that poem online! Got another one? "The Great Mink", pg. 63. And also here.

But seriously, you should get out more.

Chameleon Hours by Elise Partridge, House of Anansi Press, 2008

Who’s Elise Partridge? A poet. A Canadian one, though I read somewhere that she's a Canadian-American dual citizen. Can't we just keep things simple, people? Anyway, she lives in Vancouver. The internet can tell you more.

What’s this book? Sell it to me like it's a Canadian movie. Hmmm... how about "Poems about chemotherapy treatment. Wait, don't leave! They're really good. I promise!" Man, no one is making this easy on me...

I'm a bargain hunter. Is this book a bargain? Well, there are 38 poems and the book costs $18.95, so you pay a mere $0.50 a poem. That's the cost of a local phone call from a pay phone (remember those?) - a pretty good bargain, if you ask me.

When I'm in the bookstore considering my purchase, which poem should I read to seal the deal? "Chemo Side Effects: Vision", pg. 22.

Ok, I was lying in that last question. My plan was to Google the poem, then buy the book on Amazon. But I couldn't find that poem online! Got another one? "Chemo Side Effects: Memory", pg. 20. And also here.

You're ruining your eyes staring at that monitor all day, you know?

The Essential Don Coles by Don Coles, The Porcupine's Quill, 2009

Who’s Don Coles? A poet. A Canadian one, though he's lived in London, Stockholm, Florence, Munich, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Zurich... oh I give up with this "Canadian" thing. Let's just say he lives in Toronto and move on with it. The internet can tell you more. And more about his "selector", too.

What’s this book? Sell it to me like it's a Canadian movie. Hmmm... how about "Poems about people, some of whom are Canadian. Wait, don't leave! They're really good. I promise!"

I'm a bargain hunter. Is this book a bargain? Well, there are 30 poems and the book costs $12.95, so you pay a mere $0.43 a poem. Plus the poems are selected from six earlier collections. There's no weak stuff here in Bargain City!

When I'm in the bookstore considering my purchase, which poem should I read to seal the deal? "Somewhere Far from This Comfort", pg. 40.

Ok, I was lying in that last question. My plan was to Google the poem, then buy the book on Amazon. But I couldn't find that poem online! Got another one? "Sampling from a Dialogue", pg. 15. You can also read it here.

How about first, though, you take a little walk around the block? You know, just to get the circulation going.

A Short History of Forgetting by Paul Tyler, Gaspereau Press, 2010

Who’s Paul Tyler? A poet. A Canadian one. Ottawa, even (he's not messing around). A number of his poems are set in Baltimore, but that might only mean that he's been watching The Wire... The internet can't really tell you more, though you're welcome to give it a shot yourself.

What’s this book? Sell it to me like it's a Canadian movie. Hmmm... how about "Poems about trees and plants. Oh, and old people. Wait, don't leave! They're really good. I promise!"

I'm a bargain hunter. Is this book a bargain? Well, there are 49 poems and the book costs $19.95, so you pay a mere $0.41 a poem. Don Coles, you've just been undersold. Gordy Dodd is ashamed of you, Don.

When I'm in the bookstore considering my purchase, which poem should I read to seal the deal? "Adam Naming the Animals", pg. 9.

Ok, I was lying in that last question. My plan was to Google the poem, then buy the book on Amazon. But I couldn't find that poem online! Got another one? "Hungry", pg. 23. And also here.

Hopefully, though, you're already on your way out to the book store. I'd hate to think I was enabling your sedentary lifestyle by providing all these links. Don't disappoint me, lazy reader!

Want more recommendations? Vox Populist and Lemon Hound just offered some up as well. OR YOU CAN ALWAYS THINK FOR YOURSELF.

five last minute christmas ideas

Haven't thrown enough money at your loved ones yet? Here are some suggestions of new-ish poetry books for poetry fans and soon-to-become poetry fans alike: Pigeon by Karen Solie, House of Anansi Press, 2009

Who’s Karen Solie? A Canadian poet. A living one. The internet can tell you more. What’s this book? Y’know, poems. A collection of them. 39 to be exact. That seems like a fairly average number of poems. Will I get enough bang for my buck? Well, at $18.95, it’s $0.49 a poem. What a steal! Ok, but let’s say I’m in the bookstore and I only have time to read one poem to know if the thing is any good. What should I read? “Wager”, pg. 12. And how should I get myself in the mood for reading this poem? Drive to a bookstore in Regina to read it. But I'm too lazy to do that! Ok, you can listen to it here.

Pure Product by Jason Guriel, Vehicule Press, 2009

Who’s Jason Guriel? A Canadian poet. A living one. The internet can tell you more. What’s this book? Y’know, poems. A collection of them. 34 to be exact. That seems like a rather small number of poems. Can I really get enough bang for my buck? Well, at $16.00, it’s $0.47 a poem. So yes, definitely a steal. Plus, at 52 pages, if you are anti-social you can easily slip the book under someone's door, avoiding human interaction! Ok, but let’s say I’m in the bookstore and I only have time to read one poem to know if the thing is any good. What should I read? "Money is also a kind of Music", pg. 46. And how should I get myself in the mood for reading this poem? Listen to "Good Vibrations" 100 times in a row. I'm too lazy to do that, also! Ok, you can read it here, so long as you promise to read it 100 times.

Harmonics by Jesse Patrick Ferguson, Freehand Books, 2009

Who’s Jesse Patrick Ferguson? A Canadian poet. A living one. The internet can tell you more. What’s this book? Y’know, poems. A collection of them. 75 to be exact. That seems like a large number of poems. What a steal! That’s not a question. But yes, it is. At $16.95, it’s $0.23 a poem. Ok, but let’s say I’m in the bookstore and I only have time to read one poem to know if the thing is any good. What should I read? “Fallout at the National Gallery”, pg. 79. And how should I get myself in the mood for reading this poem? Before entering the bookstore, bash your head into the window while looking at the display books. Still too lazy! C'mon, help a brotha/sista out. Sorry, I can't find this one online. Get going!

Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets edited by Zachariah Wells, Biblioasis, 2008

Who’s 99 Canadian Poets? That question is both strange and grammatically incorrect. They are Canadian poets. Living and dead ones. The internet can tell you more. Oh, and more on the editor, too. What’s this book? Y’know, poems. An anthology of them. Ok, mostly sonnets. I’m pretty sure there are 99. Let's assume there are 99 poems in this book. That seems like a solid number. Is it in fact a steal? Yes! At $19.95, that would be $0.20 a poem. Ok, but let’s say I’m in the bookstore and I only have time to read one poem to know if the thing is any good. What should I read? “Country Hotel in the Niagara Peninsula” by David W. McFadden, pg. 16. And how should I get myself in the mood for reading this poem? Spend at least an hour wandering lost, looking for the poetry section. If that isn’t enough, bump over a shelf or two. But that would involve me getting up and leaving the house... You're right. What was I thinking? Read it here, lardass.

A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove by John Newlove, Chaudiere Books, 2007

Who’s John Newlove? A Canadian poet. A dead one. The internet can tell you more. Oh, and more on the editor, too. What’s this book? Y’know, poems. A selected poems. 138 to be exact. Let me guess... with 138 poems this is also a steal? You got it! Even with a sticker price of $22.00, it’s a mere $0.16 a poem. Ok, now that fourth question I keep asking... Oh, the one about which one poem to read? I’d say “Driving”, pg. 175. And how should I get myself in the mood for reading this poem? Drive to a book store in Kapuskasing to read it. Oh hell, just read it here.