This is a good link to a listing and bloggish discussion of the shortlisted poets for this year's Governor General's awards for poetry. I have had my eye on British poets over at The Best American Poetry blog and almost missed this. Welcome surprises - Circus is nominated, by Michael Harris, and so is the latest Daryl Hine collection. They are both poets deserving of a wider Canadian readership, so that's great. This is a notable turn to a more "British" line of formalism and style than past lists.
A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.
Comments