Category Archives: Poetry

Michael Holmes Slangster

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Francois Lachance

Before I cull from “(terra damnata)”, allow me to set this up with a quotation from Walt Whitman Slang, profoundly considered, is the lawless germinal element, below all words and sentences, and behind all poetry, and proves a certain perennial … Continue reading →

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Bubbling Branches

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Francois Lachance

Douglas Barbour. Breath Takes branches of the mothering tree of life from “breath ghazal 59:” which has the annotation “Barrier Reef Snorkeling” which of course speaks to the profusion of the coral; evidently mothering signals birthing on a grand scale; … Continue reading →

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Noise Forms Poetry

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Francois Lachance

poetry is born in noise That is not quite what she said/wrote. In the Afterword to The Crisp Day Closing on My Mind which is itself given a title: “Those Mysteries of Which We Cannot Plainly Speak”. Poetry always involves … Continue reading →

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Puncture

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Francois Lachance

Anthony Hecht in the third section of “Meditation” engages in speculative ekphrasis, that is the description of an imaginary painting in which appear a madonna surrounded by saints. On one side is St. John the Baptist and Across from him, … Continue reading →

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Numbers Game

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Francois Lachance

Stan Persky in commenting on an untitled poem by Robin Blaser published in Don Allen’s 1960 anthology The New American Poetry writes At the same time, “a few men will come to mind” has two more meanings that are to … Continue reading →

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Tracking Pips

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Francois Lachance

This haiku smashed watermelon punctuating long last notes oak galls & crickets went through many permutations: oak galls & crickets long last notes of a summer passing past crushed watermelon oak galls & crickets long last notes of a summer … Continue reading →

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Galloping Enjambement

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Francois Lachance

John Thompson. Stilt Jack. A collection of ghazals which the author reminds us in his preface are a genre that “proceeds by couplets which […] have no necessary logical, progressive, narrative, thematic (or whatever) connection.” To my surprise Thompson uses … Continue reading →

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Moonlit Shoulders

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Francois Lachance

In the midst of Mary Di Michele’s poems about the youthful love interests of Pier Paolo Pasolini, one comes across a set of lines, attached by punctuation to what precedes and what follows, yet by the grace of spacing forming … Continue reading →

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Elements and Craft

Posted on February 14, 2009 by Francois Lachance

If after the catalogue of ships in Book 2 of the Iliad one comes upon these lines from Medbh McGuckian in “Lighthouse with Dead Leaves” collected in On Ballycastle Beach, one is in mind of the power to create wrecks … Continue reading →

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Fricative Frivolities

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Francois Lachance

I had the pleasure of encountering a classmate who remembered me from first year English literature (Grant Sampson’s class at Queen’s in the academic year ’78-’79) and our encounter was the happy occasion of a recollection, one indelible moment from … Continue reading →

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