I’ve been a fan of Fern G. Z. Carr’s work for years, whether it’s orbiting Mars or in literary journals through the globe. Now to have a whole melodic book of hers to curl up with by the fire under blankets and starlight is a rare quarantine treat.
In this new series, we will begin publishing unpublished poems by prominent Canadian poets, young and old. For our first entry, we have “The Konami Code” by Mathew Henderson which is featured in his upcoming collection Roguelike out with Anansi Press this Spring.
We wish to introduce Chris Banks as The Miramichi Reader’s new Poetry Editor, and his new column, The Abrupt Edge. It will be a regular feature here at TMR and will feature poetry, poetry news and whatever else Chris wants to tell you about.
There is a consistent good-natured irony and humour running through Lindsay Bird’s Boom Time.
“Rithimus Aeternam” (Rhyme Eternal) is a fresh collection of rhyming poetry sectioned into eight themes: Surreal; Love; Nature; Dark; History & Story; Whimsy; Cowboy Poetry; and Miscellaneous. Poetry lover or not, you will find poems in this book that will resonate with your life, warm your heart and comfort your soul.
I was making my way across town. Town being Vancouver, BC. We have to say that as there’s another one, a perfectly pleasant American one, its pleasantness being its proximity to Vancouver, BC. I was to be the guest on World Poetry Café, an unassuming FM radio program with a shockingly large listenership – one-hundred-thirty-three countries, at last count.
I read the Antonio D’Alfonso translation. Think armchair travel, but a journey in which our guide’s thrown a select handful of darts at a map – personal, regionalized experiences – communicated through two distinct poetry styles. The book’s in fact bookended within itself – two chunks of time in Rome with a salad-like peppering of Europe, Asia, and a dollop of North America to fill the hoagie.
Poet-potter Gerri Frager has created a unique, engaging collection of work – literal alchemy, shaping words and hunks of this land into refined beauty – something hopeful, and remarkably reassuring.
In Fixing Broken Things, Cook offers contemplative glances and lingering views on everyday life, as if observed through a window on the weather, landscape, and appearance or disappearance of things that matter. These observations act as mirrors that reflect the self and allow the merging of inner and outer worlds. The poet’s rewards are discoveries of self and other in the magic visions and sounds that arise in combinations of words, like bits of winter ice reflecting prisms of light, life, and vision.
Unconventional and candid, Marjorie compresses personal experience into a taut and informal poetry that convey exceptional observations.
Penn Kemp’s River Revery came to me just before Christmas. It FELT like a present; the cover – Mary McDonald photo, Mike O’Connor design – a copse of evergreens reaching, waving, to an avian line, all in reverential shades of aquamarine.
Independent bookstores shouldn’t exist. Brick-and-mortar bibliophile havens are retail models waiting to be business school case studies, “Why These Can’t Work.” TV narcissi could bleat indefinitely as to why they’d never invest in such ventures. But they do exist. And despite every reason why they shouldn’t, they thrive.
With lyrical homage to earth and ocean, Nancy Mackenzie’s poetry in Crisp-Maned Bay pulses through each chamber of our divided hearts with a responsible sense of belonging.
Kerry Gilbert’s quick-paced enthusiasm in conjunction with poignant observation and gritty experience is evident throughout Little Red, her new book of poems.
Reading Kemp’s work I feel nestled in a sidecar affixed to the master’s motorbike, confident in her route, at times in conversation, storytelling, or akin to a lie-down on a therapist’s sofa. This book can leave one simultaneously inspired and intimidated, seeing genius expand exponentially with time.
© 2024 | THE Miramichi Reader
Nicholas Selig, Editor-in-Chief
