Category Archives: Poetry

Defence and Defiance

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Francois Lachance

From Kerala to Korea Malayalam The poem is about chores and the treatment of fingernails and it offers a specifically woman’s perspective in its conclusion. “I Can’t Grow My Nails” by Vijila translated by Lekshmy Rajeev published in The Oxford … Continue reading →

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Renku Materials

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Scraps fall out of an envelope and this is how they are put together. One block on one slip: scent grinds you gawking cornered And then on a separate sheet, another round, more extended: elbow hollow    neck crook scent grinds you … Continue reading →

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Reaching For Shore

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Francois Lachance

To paraphrase Stephen Scobie from The Rooms We Are The rocks are not the sea The waves are not the land This is dialogue Frank O’Hara Meditations in an Emergency “On Seeing Larry Rivers‘ ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware‘ at the … Continue reading →

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Marking Time Passing

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Francois Lachance

One line from Brian Fawcett Permanent Relationships dewwet morning What is amazing here is the simplicity of the means (rearranging the inter-word spacing) and the richness of the suggestiveness thus generated. “Dewwet” evokes that moment where the droplets have begun … Continue reading →

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LIP GRAM

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Lipogram: a text in which a given letter or set of letters is deliberately left out (Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics) Absence Where As (Claude Cahun and the Unopened Book) by Nathanaël (Nathalie Stephens) preserves the French in its … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Rapunzel

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Stanley Kunitz in his forward to Beginning With O by Olga Broumas helpfully points out that the poems inspired by fairy tales also pay homage to Anne Sexton. As Kunitz remarks they “pay Sexton the tribute of imitating, though not … Continue reading →

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Mapping Echoes

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Jay MillAr “Author Photos” False Maps for Other Creatures. a landscape is a line one understands and how one stands echoes for me bp nichol A / LAKE / A / LANE / A / LINE / A / LONE … Continue reading →

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Seep Age Drift Age

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Francois Lachance

[…] l’être du language n’apparaît pour lui-même, que dans la disparition du sujet. Michel Foucault “La Pensée du dehors” Critique No. 229 (June 1966) Dispersal. Refiguration. In the poetry of Edward Mycue, collected in Mindwalking 1937-2007, one comes to “Word … Continue reading →

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Given Stolen

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Citation is a form of kleptomania. gives, a note to envalue the day, stolen I like how the poet in these two lines balances out the beginning of giving with the concluding of stealing. Of course, what snagged my attention … Continue reading →

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Wit, Plots and Vegetative Results

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Jay Macpherson in The Boatman and Other Poems presents a memorable tale of of one-upmanship and just deserts in “The Gardeners” where the poetic voice reports on a contrast. One gardener, a neighbour, “Worked herself to bone / Raising prize … Continue reading →

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