I've read Sina Queyras's OPEN FIELD, or at least a pre-publication version of it, and I must say it's exactly what Andrew says below:
It would have been a godsend. Indeed, the entire idea
> of a comprehensive volume of current Canadian poetry targeted to its
> largest available export market, the U.S., is at once so obvious & so
> brilliant that you just want to shout, "Yes!"
>
I was blown away by it: because so many of the poets were new to me and, as someone not very familiar with Canadian poetry, it was enormously heartening to discover this whole new landmass of poetry which was vital and innovative and clear.
It felt both familiar and unfamiliar to me, but most of all invigorating and very welcome. Not like British or American or Irish poetry. There seemed to me to be a very strong expansive sense of identity. Also a real feeling of abundance: that there's plenty more where this comes from, and the poetry is very, very enjoyable, playful, rich, substantial. Well I said some of these things already is a distant mini-review for How2.
I think Ron's comments are interesting. And Doug certainly knows the scene
intimately. I haven't read Sina's Preface and don't know the editorial policy. I can say that OPEN FIELD was a wonderful introduction to a rich range of Canadian poetry for me, as I had heretofore seen it in terms of individual poets, like Doug, bp Nichol, Christian Bok, Anne Carson, Erin Moure, and Sina herself who unfortunately is not included in the book though her third book is due soonish from Coach House, I think.
Well it sure is good to have good news about poetry and to know those Canadians kick ass. I want to be Canadian forthwith and read in all those cool joints like Lexiconjury and trawl through second hand bookstores in Toronto and be brave and fun and innovative like Canadian poets!!!!
Happy Days,
Mairead
>>> [log in to unmask] 06/09/05 10:49 AM >>>
Hi Andrew I had to go look at his whole commentary. And I'd suggest
that he's pretty dead on in his comments, especially about who's
missing there.
I *think* the editor mainly went for people she knew, which included a
wide range, an eclectic range, but it does mean that a number of very
important poets are missing. Still it'll be a good intro to a number of
poets worth knowing.
What we do not have in Canada, alas, is an anthology as good as the
Tranter/Meand Australian one, or the Evans, McQueen, Wedde New Zealand
one (both from Penguin, which wouldn't do that for Canada because of an
Oxford one that's nowhere near as useful).
I think you could find some good reading in this one...
Doug
On 9-Jun-05, at 1:09 AM, Andrew Burke wrote:
> Doug - what thoughts on this book?
>
> I wish that, some 35 years ago, when I first began seriously to wonder
> about the nature (& differences) of Canadian poetry, something like
> the volume Sina Queyras promises in Open Field: 30 Contemporary Poets
> already existed. It would have been a godsend. Indeed, the entire idea
> of a comprehensive volume of current Canadian poetry targeted to its
> largest available export market, the U.S., is at once so obvious & so
> brilliant that you just want to shout, "Yes!"
>
> Andrew
>
>
Douglas Barbour
11655 - 72 Avenue NW
Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
(780) 436 3320
I can always
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diatribes.
Lorine Niedecker
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