Quill and Quire

Poetry

★ Carrying the Shadow

By Patrick Friesen

What’s poetry good for? Neither preferred nor common, it has no abbreviation on the NASDAQ exchange. But Patrick Friesen’s Carrying the Shadow shows how poetry still holds an uncontested patent in speaking of death. It’s ... Read More »

February 10, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Personal Effects

By Ronna Bloom

Ronna Bloom, a Toronto writer, psychotherapist, teacher, and erstwhile photographer, collects images and stories from her many lives for her second collection of poetry, Personal Effects. The “personal effects” of Bloom’s poetry are not so ... Read More »

February 9, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Coke Machine Glow

By Gordon Downie

Can’t we just ignore the fact that Gord Downie is the frontman for Canada’s most popular rock band and review his debut collection of poetry as an autonomous artistic endeavour entirely separate from his musical ... Read More »

February 6, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

★ Blue

By George Elliott Clarke

In Blue, George Elliott Clarke aims to strike the incendiary note Irving Layton hit when he wrote that “good poems should rage like a fire/Burning all things.” In case we miss that epigraph’s point, Clarke ... Read More »

February 6, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

The Saning

By Linda Rogers

Linda Rogers’ latest collection of poems is a delicate masterwork of brutality, a rich evocation of the tragedy and magic of human existence. Little prepares the reader for the intensity and deep pleasure The Saning ... Read More »

February 6, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Hundred Block Rock

By Bud Osborn

Bud Osborn is one of those rare poets with something important to say. And we should listen. In fact, Hundred Block Rock should be required reading for every CEO in North America … not to ... Read More »

February 6, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry