Category Archives: Poetry

Melodies of Cakes

Posted on October 21, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Susan Drodge in a review covering several books of poetry by Canadian authors (Canadian Literature 165 (2000)) entices the reader with a quotation from Dream Museum by Liliane Welch. Our appetite is whetted: She was still young, in her late … Continue reading →

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Ballot Bullets

Posted on October 18, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Steve McCaffery in “Bill Bissett: A Writing Outside Writing” collected in North of Intention: Critical Writings 1973-1986 advocates a type of anti-reading that emphasizes concentration on the graphic and sonic elements of a poem, that is attention to the materiality … Continue reading →

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Sneeze Response

Posted on October 16, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Louis Zukofsky honours the atheist’s heart with a poem entitled “To Friends, for Good Health” collected in selected poems edited by Charles Bernstein. There is a wonderful play between “best” and “blest”. It reads “And the / best / To … Continue reading →

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The Further Adventures of e

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Lola Lemire Tostevin in an essay on Canadian poet bp Nichol (“Is This Where the Poem Begins?” collected in Subject to Criticism: Essays) suggests that “[w]hat bp Nichol wrote of Marshall McLuhan could easily apply to his own writing:” There … Continue reading →

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No Easy Noise

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Francois Lachance

In a poetic sequence playing with the negation by spacing and elimination (a “now” becomes a “no w here” and simply a “no”) [though not presented explicitly as such in the text nor in this particular order], one is immersed … Continue reading →

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Florilegium

Posted on October 5, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Some of the epigraphs to various sections from H.L. Hix Chromatic Spinoza (Ethics) Desire is the very nature or essence of every single individual. Wittgenstein (Remarks on Colour) How must we look at this problem in order for it to … Continue reading →

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Blossom

Posted on October 4, 2008 by Francois Lachance

From a friend who upon completing a reading of A Lover’s Cock [poems by Verlaine and Rimbaud] translated by J. Murat and W. Gunn (Gay Sunshine Press, 1979) made the wry comment on the pronunciation of the French poet’s name: … Continue reading →

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Reductions

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Colm Tóibín in a review of the poetry and prose of Thom Gunn collected in Love in a Dark Time concludes […] we must acknowledge that his talent, his seriousness, his intelligence and his generosity, if they can be separated … Continue reading →

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Coup de theatre

Posted on September 30, 2008 by Francois Lachance

Towards the beginning of the book, there are two good poems. One turns on the trope of the voyeur observed. “The Book Women” which opens the book begins with a portrait of older women that coming to a reading expose … Continue reading →

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Another Take on “cures”

Posted on September 28, 2008 by Francois Lachance

After glossing the lines from Zbigniew Herbert “Chord” as translated by Alissa Valles and found in The Collected Poems 1956-1998 (a good memory cures/ the scar of a loss leaves), I revisit some old lines. Maxims Against Idolatry The weaver … Continue reading →

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