Category Archives: Poetry

Cocteau and Guest

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Stan Persky. Lives of the French Symbolist Poets. He is in a vast field of white flowers. His name is Cocteau. A white horse is grazing under a cottonwood tree. He is writing something on white paper. A message. Cocteau … Continue reading →

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Apollinaire and Guest

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Stan Persky. Lives of the French Symbolist Poets. Apollinaire is in a chair outside the dentist’s office. His teeth hurt. He is going to have a tooth pulled. There are 4 chairs there. They are brown chairs. Apollinaire is waiting. … Continue reading →

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Fern Hair

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Francois Lachance

It occurs in a translation of a poem by Jacques Brault by Fred Cogswell in One Hundred Poems of Modern Quebec (Fiddlehead, 1970). The text reads “headchess” [which auto-correct wants to render “headaches”] for “headdress” [?]. One can see how … Continue reading →

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Driven Diving

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Francois Lachance

This set of diving exercises is set in the past. It pertains to “Our Youth” in the poem of the same name by Gilles Hénault. like fools we dove again in seas of grief where twist the coral spines of … Continue reading →

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Precipitate (Noun)

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Francois Lachance

A single line triumph. Making three look more. By way of enjambement. The concluding lines of “Rain, Rain, Rain” by Don McKay from Apparatus Who understands this tongue? No one. No one and no one and no one. … yet … Continue reading →

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Bird Lore

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Best single line I’ve seen in a while. Don McKay. “Chickadee Encounter” in Apparatus zippers, quicklings, Darn smart all by itself and very intelligent in its context of the poem’s conclusion that it triggers… […] zippers, quicklings, may you inherit … Continue reading →

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French Frogs

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Tour de force. Forceful turn. Gillian Sze “Sound No 5” Panicle Humans, too, imitated the frogs — koa koa! — and begin to ask questions, Quoi? Quoi? We turned to each other and hands groped, demanded, Que sexe est? or … Continue reading →

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once more more

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Gillian Sze From “Panicle” in Panicle What do you see? Fog lurking along the street. What does it bring? A sudden surge of birds from around the corner. What do you hear? Shrapnel of wings. What do you call this? … Continue reading →

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Intergenerational Cultural Touchstones

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Richard Sanger Dark Woods One of the pieces in this collection features the figure of a tree planter as recalled within the recollection of a father driving a son home… […] the song I used to listen to at his … Continue reading →

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Sun & Moon: West & East

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Gillian Sze “Blood Sign #2” The Anatomy of Clay How many of us have fallen into water while trying to catch the moon or during a waxen flight sunwards? Allusion to Icarus and the Zen trope of moonlight in a … Continue reading →

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