Broken Pencil, retro reviews: Lynn Crosbie, Queen Rat: New and Selected Poems

A few months ago, Broken Pencil asked for a series of "retro reviews," reviews of Canadian poetry titles from the 1990s that deserved attention, or were possibly overlooked at the time. The pieces were published in Broken Pencil #50. Here was my contribution.

By the time Lynn Crosbie’s Queen Rat: New and Selected Poems (Toronto ON: Anansi, 1998) appeared, a comparison to the late London, Ontario artist Greg Curnoe was entirely appropriate: we watched, in part, because we didn’t know exactly what they would do next. In the mid to late 1990s, Crosbie was the rarest of artist, alongside Michael Turner and Douglas Coupland, watched for the very fearlessness and experimentation, the unexpected and entirely compelling movements that permeated their works. We could say the same, more recently, of Christian Bök. She had already published three poetry collections, from Miss Pamela’s Mercy (1992), VillainElle (1994) to Pearl (1996), edited or co-edited the anthologies The Girl Wants To (1993), Plush (1995) and Click (1997), and published her infamous documentary novel Paul's Case (Toronto ON: Insomniac Press, 1998).  Obviously, Crosbie’s writing lived wild, informed, pop-culture awake, and highly intellectual and unafraid of those dark places other writers manage to water-down in comparison. Who else would attempt to title an anthology “The Girl Wants To Fuck,” or read sections of her Paul Bernardo-inspired documentary novel to an audience at a Toronto fundraiser for PEN Canada and be, ironically, censored by members proclaiming otherwise intellectual freedoms?

Had the rules for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry not changed to no longer consider selected poems (a rule that allowed Leonard Cohen, Patrick Lane and plenty of others the prize), she should have easily won for Queen Rat: New and Selected Poems. Didn’t it matter that forty percent of the collection was actually previous uncollected work, including the Toronto-laden abecedarian “Alphabet City”? I would say still that this piece is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, of her works to date, magnificently sampling from a series of other works, including Michael Ondaatje’s Governor General’s Award-winning The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970). It was bad enough that they short-listed Robin Blaser’s life’s work The Holy Forest (Coach House Press, 1993) and didn't award it, but a further crime that Crosbie wasn’t even eligible. But in the intervening years, the follow-up question insists, what happened? Is her fearlessness still there, but less reckless, perhaps? Have readers, somehow, unfortunately, confused a lack of resulting shock-value with a lack of credibility? Was it her writing, or was it our attention that changed?

Stephen and Gwendolyn playset;

This is the Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset diorama I made for Gwendolyn Guth’s birthday back in February, sitting here in Stephen Brockwell’s dining room. I made it with the idea that whenever he was away on one of his business trips, she could use to miss him less; do you think it’s working? It even comes with a rob and Christine in the background (notice, though, mine is the only character holding a glass of wine; and can you see the dog peeking out from the kitchen?).

Stephen became convinced (especially after discovering I designed and did all of this in front of the television one evening, capturing the interior of his house from memory) that I should do such for money; do you think such is a possibility? Seems somehow unlikely. Although I did have an awful lot of fun designing the instructions (below). I made a point of including them in multiple languages in 8-point font (this all fits on one sheet of 8 ½ x 11 paper, of course), with English instructions included last. How could one expect anything else?

It makes me wonder: what should I be making next...?

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Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™

El Wile lejos las horas con Gwendolyn Guth™ y Stephen Brockwell™ en su muy posee Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™, y celebra el cumpleaños de Gwendolyn Guth's™, o cualquier día, en estilo lujoso.

Cómo jugar con su Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™

Fije en el área principal de la casa de Stephen Brockwell's™ en la vecindad de Lindenlea de Ottawa, usted puede mirar como Gwendolyn Guth™ marca los papeles, los cocineros de Stephen Brockwell™, la parte dos una cena iluminada por velas romántica y botella apropiada de vino (por supuesto) o se prepara por vacaciones raras al ™ de Cayman Islands (Stephen y Gwendolyn Cayman Islands Playset™ vendido por separado). ¿Nico el dog™ golpeará sobre cena con todo otra vez? ¿Cualquiera de ellos parará el trabajar y conseguirá nunca abajo al negocio de la vida? ¿Usted podrá caminar Stephen Brockwell™ o Gwendolyn Guth™ a través de una sola puerta sin Nico el dog™ inmediatamente en sus talones, amenazando a su equilibrio e incluso a su cordura? ¡Oh no, Nico!

Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™

Wile прочь часы с Gwendolyn Guth™ и Стефан Brockwell™ в их очень имеет Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™, и празднует день рождения Gwendolyn Guth's™, или любой день, в роскошном типе.

¡Recoja a sus muchos amigos!

También disponible para su Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™ incluya: robe mclennan y Christine McNair™ (guitarra incluyendo y autoharp), Rolando Prevost y Janice Tokar™ (guitarra incluyendo), Steve Zytveld y Cathy McDonald-Zytveld™ (goggles™ incluyendo de la poesía y tres botellas del cuarto de galón de cerveza), Juan Lavery™ (guitarra incluyendo y gavilla de papel), Marilyn Irwin™ (guitarra incluyendo) y Monty Reid, Sarah y Frances™ (guitarra incluyendo, violín y cochecito de bebé).

Cómo mantener su Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™

Subsistencia fuera del alcance de animales. Subsistencia lejos del fuego o del agua. Subsistencia lejos del viento, del hielo y de la nieve. No caliente sobre 40º cent3igrado o debajo de 0º. Contiene pequeñas piezas. Subsistencia fuera del alcance de niños. No para los niños bajo edad de 20. No toque su Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™. Mantenga fuera del alcance de cada uno.

Si cualquier parte de sus roturas de Stephen y de Gwendolyn Playset™, piezas es disponible pero extremadamente costosa. ¡Goce de su Stephen y Gwendolyn Playset™! ¡Guarde el jugar de la caja fuerte! Coma las manzanas.

Как сыграть с вашими Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™

Установите в главную район дома Стефан Brockwell's™ в районе Lindenlea Оттава, вы можете наблюдать по мере того как Gwendolyn Guth™ маркирует бумаги, кашевар Стефан Brockwell™, дол 2 романтичный candlelit обедающий и соотвествующи бутылк вина (конечно) или подготовляете на редкая каникула к ™ Cayman Islands (Стефан и Gwendolyn Cayman Islands Playset™ проданное отдельно). Nico dog™ будет стучать над обедающим но снова? То из их всегда будет останавливать работать и будет получать вниз к делу жить? Вы будете погулять или Стефан Brockwell™ или Gwendolyn Guth™ через одиночную дверь без Nico dog™ немедленно на их пятках, угрожающ их баланса и даже их психического здоровья? Oh нет, Nico!

Соберите их много друзей!

Также имеющеся для ваших Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™ включите: разбойничайте mclennan и Кристина McNair™ (включая гитара и autoharp), Рональд Prevost и Дженис Tokar™ (включая гитара), Стив Zytveld и Cathy mcDonald-Zytveld™ (включая goggles™ поэзии и 3 бутылки кварты пива), Джон Lavery™ (включая гитара и сноп бумаги), Мэрилин Irwin™ (включая гитара) и Monty Reid, Сара и Frances™ (включая гитара, скрипка и прогулочная коляска младенца).

Как поддерживать ваши Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™

Содержание из достигаемости животных. Содержание далеко от пожара или воды. Содержание далеко от ветра, льда и снежка. Не нагрейте над 40º Celsius или под 0º. Содержит малые части. Содержание из достигаемости детей. Не для детей под временем 20. Не коснитесь вашим Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™. Держите из достигаемости каждого.

Если любая часть ваших проломов Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™, частей имеющаяся но весьма дорогая. Насладитесь вашими Стефан и Gwendolyn Playset™! Держите сыграть сейф! Съешьте яблока.

Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™

Wile away the hours with Gwendolyn Guth™ and Stephen Brockwell™ in their very own Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™, and celebrate Gwendolyn Guth’s™ birthday, or any day, in luxurious style.

How to Play with your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™

Set in the main area of Stephen Brockwell’s™ house in Ottawa’s Lindenlea neighbourhood, you can watch as Gwendolyn Guth™ marks papers, Stephen Brockwell™ cooks, the two share a romantic candlelit dinner and appropriate bottle of wine (of course) or prepare for a rare vacation to the Cayman Islands™ (Stephen and Gwendolyn Cayman Islands Playset™ sold separately). Will Nico the dog™ knock over dinner yet again? Will either of them ever stop working and get down to the business of living? Will you be able to walk either Stephen Brockwell™ or Gwendolyn Guth™ through a single door without Nico the dog™ immediately at their heels, threatening their balance and even their sanity? Oh no, Nico!

Collect their Many Friends!

Also available for your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™ include: rob mclennan and Christine McNair™ (including guitar and autoharp), Roland Prevost and Janice Tokar™ (including guitar), Steve Zytveld and Cathy McDonald-Zytveld™ (including poetry goggles™ and three quart bottles of beer), John Lavery™ (including guitar and sheaf of paper), Marilyn Irwin™ (including guitar) and Monty Reid, Sarah and Frances™ (including guitar, fiddle and baby stroller).

How to Maintain your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™

Keep out of reach of animals. Keep away from fire or water. Keep away from wind, ice and snow. Do not heat over 40º Celsius or below 0º. Contains small parts. Keep out of reach of children. Not for children under the age of 20. Do not touch your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™. Keep out of reach of everyone.

If any part of your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™ breaks, parts are available but extremely expensive. Enjoy your Stephen and Gwendolyn Playset™! Keep playing safe! Eat apples.

Copyright © 2011, rob mclennan industries, Canada (a division of rob mclennan worldwide)

Fabric, Richard Froude

The United States contains at least ten cities of Bristol. Each is in a different state: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Maine.

We flew home from Orlando International on July 17^th, 1992. I took everything: pamphlets, menus, cups, even a toilet roll wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper. I believed that if I carried these things with me, then they would stay with me, become part of me. I mention this in relation to Frank Sinatra, Howard Carter and the realization that in these rooms inside apartments we are collecting the items that will grant us passage.

This is how Bristol, Indiana exists as the dream of Bristol, England. And America, as it is known, as the waking dream of all who have arrived. What is known as the American Dream is a reduction. The common and singular dream of these dreams simplified into linear narrative. I am trying to write the perfect American story: the book whose name is God.

It becomes difficult to explain just what is happening in American poet Richard Froude’s [see his 12 or 20 questions here] first trade collection Fabric (Denver CO: Horse Less Press, 2011) without wanting to quote from large swaths of this extended narrative, this extended essay-poem. 

Subtitled “Preludes to the Last American Book,” Froude’s Fabric is even difficult to describe in terms of straight lyric poetry, despite the many qualities they share, existing somewhere between prose and poetry, but something other than the straight “prose poem.” 

There is a sharp and deepening wisdom here, writing out a series of narrative threads that begin to reveal themselves, later on in the book, and wrap around each other, swirling across breathless pages. How do his poems manage to know so much? As he writes:

I have tried to understand death as related to the idea of waking. I am not certain of the name for this relation. It may be more appropriate to ask somebody better acquainted with mathematics.

We drove to a beach where the rock was said to be rich with fossils. I knew about ammonites and trilobites and harbored dreams of owning a metal detector.

Fossils, like windows, are moments of discourse. Music is distinct from the measurement and transcription of sound. It is a form of recurrence.

I have tried to understand waking as the moment when the world ceases to make sense. Maybe one day everything with be collected in sequence and bound with leather.

Margaret Christakos' Influency 10: A Toronto Poetry Salon; rob mclennan + others,

Influency 10: A Toronto Poetry Salon
April 6- June 8 2011 (no class June 1)
Wednesday evenings, 7-9:30 pm (we begin promptly at 7:05 and make every effort to end by 9:30; some classes may extend to 10pm).
Rm 108, St George Campus Health Sciences Building, University of Toronto [campus map here]
One block west of University, south side of College St. Queen's Park subway station at College and University.

With featured guest poets Kaie Kellough, Larissa Lai, Camille Martin, rob mclennan, Erin Moure, Mark Truscott, Daniel Scott Tysdal and Rachel Zolf
Facilitated by Margaret Christakos

Course number 1777 - 010
Register at www.learn.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing program.
No prerequisite.
For readers and writers alike. A powerful way to reconnect with poetry, to build bridges into the contemporary poetry scene, and to deepen critical engagement with poetry. Many writers and literature buffs attend this course; the class is equally welcoming to people with a beginner's level of experience with reading poetry. Adults from 18-1000 years welcome. Approximately half the registrants in any given session have taken previous sessions of the class; and each session we welcome newcomers. The course may count towards a certificate in creative writing, or be taken for pleasure. Registrants compose readerly critical responses to books weekly, and write a final "Intertext" reflecting on two or more of the books studied, for presentation. Registrants also take turns in small groups introducing guests and bringing along snacks and non-alcoholic beverages to produce a congenial social environment for each evening.
Course $249 plus $130 book fee (8 poetry books). Fee is paid at first class by personal cheque or cash.

Mark Truscott, Nature (Book Thug, 2010)  April 27 and May 4
Daniel Scott Tysdal, The Mourner's book of Albums (Tightrope Books, 2010) April 20 and May 4
Kaie Kellough, Maple Leaf Rag (Arbeiter Ring Publishing) May 11 and May 18
rob mclennan, Wild Horses (University of Alberta Press, 2010) April 13 and May 18
Rachel Zolf, Neighbour Procedure (Coach House, 2010) May 25
Larissa Lai, Automaton Biographies (Arsenal Pulp, 2009) April 20 and April 27
Camille Martin, Sonnets (Shearsman, 2010) April 13 and May 11
Erin Moure, Pillage Laud (BookThug, new issue 2011) May 25

Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon has run twice annually from Fall 2006. In each session, 8 accomplished poets working in distinctive styles will appear as both guest readers and peer critics in this unique lecture-reading series hosted by Margaret Christakos. Each poet's critique of a colleague's work will be followed with a reading by the poet under discussion. A group discussion led by Christakos will follow. Students will accumulate critical vocabulary to discuss more fluently the divergences of approach, motive, process and product typical of Toronto's multitraditional literary culture. The 8-book package under discussion will be available in class for $130. Register a week prior to course beginning if possible to facilitate smooth running of a complex course! Note this spring's session is 9 in-class meetings, with an extended evening on May 25 at an off-campus location.

The course has also spawned a fledgling online magazine called www.influencysalon.ca; please visit to see some of the essays and responses presented at some of our earlier classes.

This spring's course will run as follows:

April 6 opening evening (For MC and registrants)

April 13 rob mclennan speaking on Camille Martin's Sonnets

April 20 Daniel Scott Tysdal speaking on Larissa Lai's Automaton Biographies

April 27 Larissa Lai speaking on Mark Truscott's Nature

May 4 Mark Truscott on Daniel Scott Tysdal's The Mourner's Book of Albums

May 11 Camille Martin speaking on Kaie Kellough's Maple Leaf Rag

May 18 Kaie Kellough speaking on rob mclennan's Wild Horses

May 25
A combined evening at a venue not on U of T campus, also open to public (for a door fee).
Rachel Zolf on Erin Moure's Pillage Laud AND Erin Moure on Rachel Zolf's Neighbour Procedure

No class June 1

June 8 Final potluck and Student Intertexts on Influency 9 authors and books (important! please attend!)

* * *

For more info, mchristakos@hotmail.com 

The Dusty Owl Reading Series: April 3 + 17

The Dusty Owl Reading Series – New Poetry, New Music, New Culture, New Possibilities

www.dustyowl.com

and note temporary venue change; the readings are currently being held at The Carleton Tavern,

233 Armstrong (at Parkdale), upstairs;

3 April – Gabriella Goliger & Blaine Marchand

Gabriella Goliger’s widely acclaimed new novel, Girl Unwrapped, is a coming-of-age story set in 1960s Montreal. It tells of Toni Goldblatt's awakening to taboo desire, which conflicts with the expectations of her Holocaust-scarred parents and with the conservative mores of her times. Goliger's first book, Song of Ascent, won the 2001 Upper Canada Writer's Craft Award. She was co-winner of the 1997 Journey Prize for short fiction, was a finalist for this prize in 1995 and won the Prism International award in 1993. She has also been published in a number of journals and anthologies including Best New American Voices 2000 and Contemporary Jewish Writing in Canada.

Her educational credentials include a B.A. from McGill University and an M.A. in English literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Born in Italy, Gabriella grew up in Montreal and has also lived in Israel, the Eastern Arctic, Victoria, B.C. and Ottawa, Ontario, her home for the past 30 years.

The author of eight books, six of which are poetry, Blaine Marchand’s most recent books are Aperature (poems, prose and photos of Afghanistan, 2008), and The Craving of Knives (2009). A young adult novel, African Adventure (translated as Aventure africaine) was published in 1990. His work  has been published in Canadian and American literary journals. He was co-founder of Sparks, Anthos, Ottawa Independent Writers and the Ottawa Valley Book Festival. He was President of the League of Canadian Poets, 1992-94. He is working on a new manuscript of short stories (entitled Nomads), a series of poetry and on a work drawing upon his journal entries while living in Islamabad, Pakistan (August 2008-2010).

As part of Steve Zytveld's spring term at school, this event will be lovingly guest-hosted by Christine McNair;

17 April – David Groulx

David Groulx was raised in the Northern Ontario mining community of Elliot Lake. He is proud of his Native roots – his mother is Ojibwe Indian and his father French Canadian.  David studied creative writing at the En’owkin Centre, Penticton, B.C. in ’98-99, where he won the Simon J Lucas Jr. Memorial Award for poetry. He has written two poetry books – Night in the Exude (Tyro Publications, 1997); and The Long Dance (Kegedonce Press, 2000). Under god’s pale bones (Kegedonce Press, 2010), Until The Bullets Rose is due out 2011 (Wosak & Wynn). David’s poetry has appeared in over a 100 periodicals in England, Australia, Germany, and the USA. He lives in a log home near Ottawa.                        

As part of Steve Zytveld's spring term at school, this event will be lovingly guest-hosted by rob mclennan;

Watch for upcoming readings by Michael Blouin and Ronnie Brown, and the Dusty Owl fifteenth anniversary "family reunion" at the Elmdale Tavern, May 22nd!

The Dusty Owl Reading Series; 5pm with featured performer(s) and open stage by 6; Admission is free. Donations will be lovingly accepted.

For more information please contact: Steve Zytveld and/or Catherine MacDonald-Zytveld, Reading Series Coordinator + Media Coordinator Tel: (613) 230-7710

E-mail: steve@dustyowl.com E-mail: media@dustyowl.com