Part Time Contemplative: review by James Deahl

Part Time Contemplative

By Pat Connors

Toronto: Lyricalmyrical, 2016

       Review by James Deahl


       Part Time Contemplative is the second collection by Pat Connors to be published by Lyricalmyrical; his first effort was Scarborough Songs in 2013. Connors’ poetry has been identified as People’s Poetry by the critic Terry Barker. Indeed, Barker has argued that Connors writes from the Catholic Left tradition and compares him to Joe Wallace (1890 - 1975), finding that Connors presents his ideas in the “highly compact Romantic manner” developed by Wallace. Readers who enjoyed Scarborough Songs will be happy to learn that Connors continues to investigate what might be called the “modern dilemma” — that is, how to live a fully spiritual life in what is becoming an increasingly post-Christian society — from a poetic stance which is at once Catholic and Left.

       As a journalist, Connors writes of those who suffer psychological challenges, and it is here that Part Time Contemplative starts. “The Beginning of Forever,” “Panic,” and “Recovery” deal with the struggle against panic attacks/anxiety disorder. This is coupled with a quest for God, clearly shown in “All There Is Is Everything.” This religious search is more powerfully celebrated in “Centre,” the very short, fourth poem in this collection. Indeed, a return to, or a revival of, his Catholic faith is an aid to the process of psychological recovery.

       The poet, now well into middle age, revisits his innocent and not-so-innocent childhood in poems like “The Innocence of Youth,” “Burby,” and “What Runs Through.” In general, this is a step forward from his initial Lyricalmyrical collection. The content of these two-dozen pieces is stronger and more tightly focused, and that is a welcome sign.

       Far too many poems these days have little, or even nothing, to say to their readers. Too often, poets write simply because they can. They write the same poem over and over with only slight variations. Perhaps because of the influence of the poetry of the Chilean master Pablo Neruda and Canadian Mick Burrs, Pat Connors does not suffer from this problem.





 

Open Book Ontario listing for PurdyFest #8

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Purdy Country Literary Festival (PurdyFest)   Submitted by kate on May 20, 2014 - 10:46am More Sharing ServicesShare | When Friday, August 1, 2014 - 5:00pm Where Various Locations in Purdy County Details This summer's eighth annual Purdy Country Literary Festival (PurdyFest) will begin on Friday, August 1, with a Potluck Supper at ZenRiver Gardens in the hamlet of Malone. On Saturday, August 2, a Symposium will be held in the Marmora Library building from 12 to 2 pm on the poetry and legacy of Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson. After the Symposium poets will gather on the islet in the Marmora Dam for Another Dam Poetry Reading. Activities continue Sunday afternoon, August 3, at ZenRiver Gardens with Group Readings hosted by Tai Grove, President of The Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance and publisher of Hidden Brook Press. Free rough camping will be available at ZenRiver Gardens, and side trips will likely be made to the Al Purdy A-frame in Ameliasburgh, as well as expeditions to local conservation area Callahan's Rapids and other scenic locations. PurdyFests are hosted by Marmora poet Chris Faiers: zenriver@sympatico.ca 613-472-6186

My Country, Oh My Country! - Stan White

My Country, Oh My Country!

 

Prudent through adolescence
it stood settlement
before many a raised fist
in a world that walked with a stick.
Now it warrants wars,
betrays even its own snows,
trades in pounds of its own flesh
listens less and less
to fewer of its people;
its true compass hidden
beneath a devious hand.
 
                                    

                         Stan White


                    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On 2014-05-12, at 11:07 AM, Stan White wrote:

Have you been following the Rob Ford saga? It too makes you wonder about the intelligence of the electorate. S.


                                           ***
 
I gave up on the electorate almost a half century ago during the Vietnam War debacle. Harsh lesson learned before the age of 21  ;  )
Chris
 
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Debts Unpaid (Norma West Linder)

Debts Unpaid



The breath of settlers’ children

warmed our one-room schools

scent of wet wool

frost-flowered window-panes

blank faces waiting

to be mapped with knowledge



We, their descendants, learned

to fashion maps

of water, salt and flour

moulded Laurentian Shield

painted it pink

learned about war

learned how to think



The music of Niagara

falls rhythmic from our tongues

We feel the Native Spirit of the Past

Muskoka, Mississauga, Manitoulin,

Nipissing . . .

Too numerous to list

these gifts that last



Though cadence of First Nation names

is something we hold dear

their land claims go unsettled

year after trying year






by Norma West Linder


     
   Norma grew up on Manitoulin Island. From what I can see, Natives outnumber white people on the island, so all islanders know members of the various tribes.
         Norma will be most happy to see her “Debts Unpaid” appear in Umbrella. It initially appeared in her book Morning Child, and was later re-printed in Adder’s-tongues: A Choice of Norma West Linder’s Poems.

PurdyFest #8: Focus on Pauline Johnson and First Nations Art and History

PURDYFEST #8: Focus on Pauline Johnson and First Nations Art & History
 


This will be the eighth summer that poets will gather on the August long weekend in the greater Marmora area to share and celebrate. Many activities will take place at ZenRiver Gardens in the hamlet of Malone, other events will be held in the Marmora Library Building and on the Marmora dam. Everyone is invited to all these free events, and all participants are encouraged to share their poetry, music and art.

Activities begin late Friday afternoon, August 1st, with a Potluck Supper at ZenRiver Gardens by the shaman shack. Free 'rough camping' is available for the weekend.

PurdyFest Symposiums have been focusing on the life, art and legacies of Canada's major "People's Poets". To date these symposiums have examined the work of poets Al Purdy, Ted Plantos, Milton Acorn, Raymond Souster and Dorothy Livesay. We are working our way back through Canadian history, and this summer we'll examine and celebrate the life and legacy of Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson, who made her contributions a century ago. The symposium on Pauline Johnson will be held in The William Shannon Room of the Marmora Library Building from noon to 2 pm on Saturday, August 2nd.

After the Symposium poets, friends and summer visitors will gather on the islet in the Marmora Dam for ANOTHER DAM POETRY READING. Marmora singer/guitarist/poet Morley Ellis will lead off the round robin readings, with everyone attending encouraged to share their art.

Events continue early Sunday afternoon at ZenRiver Gardens. Tai Grove is both the publisher of Hidden Brook Press and the President of The Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance. Tai will host readings by these two groups, and there is always time for all poets attending to present a poem or two of their own, whether a member of these groups or not.

For further information on Purdy Country Literary Festival #8 please contact Chris Faiers:

zenriver@sympatico.ca
613-472-6186.




Message from CCLA Prez Tai Grove about Sunday readings:


Purdy Fest CCLA Reading – Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 – 1pm to 3:30pm Come early at 12 noon and stay late to hang out. As usual the CCLA reading at Chris Faiers’ ZenRiver Gardens is about communing with friends and fellow poets. It is about camaraderie under the tent of poetry. Come with your refreshments and snacks if you like and re-connect with fellow poets. There is no feature reader. We will read in a round robin. Once all of the signed up CCLA participants have read we will go around the circle as an open non-mic as many times as we still have readers. Some will read from the middle of the river – you are invited to join us. Some might have to leave but we will keep reading as long as we have readers. Come with an entourage and a lawn chair. 
 /prez tai

– John Hamley - 
– Ann Peacock -
– Keith and René Inman -
– Tara Kainer -
– Wayne Schlepp -
– Jim Ronson -
 – Patrick Connors - 
– Graham and Stella Ducker -
– Deb Panko -  
– Colin Morton - 
– Mary Lee Bragg -
 

 

     



Pauline Johnson

         
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On 2014-04-30, at 4:35 PM, Lindi Pierce wrote:

Hi Chris
I have had a draft of a Purdy blog post about you and the Purdy Fests going for awhile.
(I've begun a series on Friends of the A-frame, and you are one of the oldest - as in, you've been in the fraternity longest :-)
Can I use the text above as part of a post? - I can give the Umbrella a plug at the same time, to repay the favour.
Lindi


                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hi Lindi,
Please use it! And any other stuff from my blog  ;  ) 

And I'm proud to be one of the oldest A-framers - both in membership tenure AND human decades!

It's a bit frustrating that QAC is having to cut back on publishing UMBRELLA from 6 to 4 times a year. I feel we're finally starting to crank up the artistic/tourism/cultural/spiritual vibe here in Purdy Country. Chase & I just returned from our riverside afternoon walk, somewhat dripping, & while strolling we met a young local returnee who's now working on tourism promo for the area. Her boss, & her boss' hubby, are both also poets - her boss works for Coach House Press in TO, & I've got some old connections there. So we're getting quite a cultural confab going in - of all places - The Marm!

Lots of local cultural excitement gearing up for this summer - maybe the Great Moira River Flood of 2014 washed away some cultural & spiritual detritus as well as the usual riverbank flotsam & jetsam ;  )

peace & poetry power!
Chris & Chase Wrfffffffffffffshivvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvrrrr  (damn, drizzle on a freshly defurred dog is no fun!)

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On 2014-04-30, at 5:31 PM, Anna Plesums wrote:

Chris,
I am getting to be 90 at the Purdy fest time, but if I am still as good as I am today I will participate as much as I will be capable.Send me the dates and times for activities. I  am sorry, but I will not bake any bread this time, my hands can not handle anything bigger than a wine glass (ha - ha! I wont miss that).
Hope to hear soon.
Anna
                             ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Hi Anna,
That's great that you're planning on attending PF #8! But ... 90 candles on our annual Potluck Supper chocolate cake might risk burning down the shaman shack  ;  )

We'll miss your delicious home baked breads, but maybe someone else can learn to knead the dough. Events start on Friday aft, Aug. 1st.

See you then.
peace & poetry power!
Chris ... & Chase Wrffffffffffffffffffffffffff!   (man, I'm 16 in human years, which is 112 in doggy years!)



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Dennis Robillard has left a new comment on your post "PurdyFest #8: Focus on Pauline Johnson and First N...":

Hi Folks. Im interested in maybe attending the Purdyfest festivities down at the dam this year. Do we have to sign up anywhere to do readings or is that a first come first in rotation? Also do the readings have to center around Pauline? I do have some Purdy-type poems I wouldn't mind reading. Please let me know.



Posted by Dennis Robillard to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 4 June 2014 15:49

                                             . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hi Dennis,
Thanks for your interest in PurdyFest  ;  )  Everyone is welcome to read whatever they wish to read at ANOTHER DAM POETRY READING on the Marmora Dam. No sign up required. The focus doesn't have to be on Pauline Johnson, or Al Purdy, or whatever - just read what you want to share. The readings are very democratic - we go around & around the reading circle (well, people are spread all over the islet on blankets & lawn chairs, but there is some sense of a poetry circle). Readers are asked to read one poem at a time, or a brief sort story, or even a song. We share our poetry until everyone's read & shared everything they wish to! Often people wander off for a walk, or to find the LCBO & then return ... and informal readings, discussions, singing, guitar playing, story telling & lies etc. continue long into the evening at ZenRiver Gardens in the hamlet of Malone - where the entertainment continues (or devolves!) around campfires, roasting marshmallows, nature hikes,  dinner & refreshments (bring your own, please).   Hope this helps ...
peace & poetry power!
Chris

                                        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

 

Sharing a beer with Souster and Acorn in Sarnia April 27

I've cut & pasted the following from Debbie Okun Hill's excellent blog:

Why I’ll Never Share a Beer with Canadian Poets Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster

Leave a reply

Did you choke over my words, spit out gasps into a brown paper bag? Were you startled or just amused? A headline like a poem title needs to grab the reader by the throat and I hope this one does. Still it’s not intended to be disrespectful of two literary giants.  My rationale easily rolls like water from my tongue: I hate the taste of beer and wouldn’t share a bottle or glass of lager or ale with anyone no matter how famous he/she might be.

Learn more about Canadian poets Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster during this free reading in Sarnia, Ontario.

Also it’s too late to cry over any type of beverage including a tipped over bottle of poetic spirits. Imagine the suds sliding across the wooden table and along the pub floor. Okay, that’s moving away from the topic. Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster are both dearly departed and unless their apparitions appear before us, no one will have the privilege of speaking to them again. Sad news indeed! Acorn passed away in August 1986 due to complications of a heart condition and diabetes. Souster died in October 2012. He was 91 years old.

I wish I had met them or at least heard them read.

Celebrating Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster during National Poetry Month

Both are considered legends in the poetry world. Acorn received a Governor General Award in 1976 for his poetry collection The Island Means Minago. Souster received the same award in 1964 for his work The Colour of the Times. Both would have been great mentors. Unfortunately I was a late poetic bloomer; Acorn and Souster escaped my radar before I knew who they were.
Even today, my knowledge of these two poets is limited, gleamed from second hand sources. My goal is to read all their work cover to cover! I wish I had the luxury of time but this is what I’ve learned so far.

Souster’s legacy reminds me that poetry does not make one famous or financially wealthy. All his life, he was considered shy and despite being prolific and leaving behind more than 50 volumes of his work, he remained a banker to pay his bills. According to Canadian poet James Deahl, Souster wrote about “love, nature, war, social, injustice jazz, religion, and beauty. He was also the first president/chairman of the League of Canadian Poets and was a kind and gentle man. As I wrote in my tribute poem “Won’t see his poetic face/plastered on a Canadian bill.” Societies in general scratch their heads when it comes to respecting and understanding poets.

James Deahl has edited several books to celebrate the legacy of his friends Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster.

Acorn’s legacy of work taught me that there are different types of poets, just like there are different types of musicians or artists to suit different markets. Acorn was a “people’s poet” who wrote about everyday concerns for the common folks and employed wit, politics and strong emotion in his work. He produced more than 15 books and like Souster, he enjoyed helping younger and more inexperienced writers.

James Deahl is one of those poets who knew and spent time with both Souster and Acorn. He has studied their work and has written extensively about their lives. In 1987, he edited and compiled The Northern Red Oak, a tribute to Milton Acorn published by Unfinished Monument.

More recently he edited In a Springtime Instant: Selected Poems by Milton Acorn published as part of the Mosiac Press Canadian Literature ‘Icon” series.

David Eso

Michael Fraser

Joe Fiorito

Laurence Hutchman

Carleton Wilson

Anna Yin

Earlier this year in Toronto, he edited and launched Under the Mulberry Tree: Poems For & About Raymond Souster. Published by Quattro Books, this anthology features tribute poems by those who knew the poet well and those who are just learning about his work. The contributors include: Steven Michael Berzensky, Kent Bowman, Ronnie R. Brown, Terry Ann Carter, John Robert Columbo, Allan Cooper, Robert Currie, James Deahl, David Donnell, G. W. Down, Margaret Patricia Eaton, David Eso, Chris Faiers, George Fethering, Joe Fiorito, Michael Fraser, Ryan Gibbs, Katherine Gordon, Andreas Gripp, Debbie Okun Hill, Laurence Hutchman, Karl Jirgens, Laurie Kruk, Dennis Lee, Norma West Linder, Bruce Meyer, Brian Purdy, Bernadette Rule, Simcha Simchovitch, Glen Sorestad, Lynn Tait, S. J. White, Carleton Wilson, Michael Wurster, and Anna Yin.

Norma West Linder

On Sunday, April 27 starting at 1 p.m. at The Book Keeper in Sarnia, seven of these contributors: Berzensky, Bowman, Deahl, Gibbs, Okun Hill, West Linder, and Tait will be reading and celebrating the legacy of Acorn and Souster. More info here. Additional readings are also planned for Ottawa and North Bay in June.

As Deahl wrote in his introduction to Under the Mulberry Tree: “No poet learns the craft without the help and sage advice from those who have already achieved a higher level of writing.”

Steven Michael Berzensky

Kent Bowman

Three cheers to all the poets including Acorn and Souster who believed in the power of the written word and who will continue to leave their mark on the next generation of writers. As an emerging poet, I still have so much to learn. Maybe one day, I’ll acquire a taste for beer or maybe not.

Ryan Gibbs

Lynn Tait

Debbie Okun Hill

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This entry was posted in blog posts, News-Events and tagged Debbie Okun Hill, James Deahl, Kent Bowman, Lynn Tait, Milton Acorn, Mosaic Press, Norma West Linder, poetry, Quattro Books, Raymond Souster, Ryan Gibbs, Steven Michael Berzensky, The Book Keeper, Under the Mulberry Tree on April 21, 2014.



Quirky poetic homage to Hamilton/author interview Martin Durkin

 

A Q&A session with Author Martin Durkin………..

By Crazy Irishman

A Q&A session By the Crazy Irishman with Martin Durkin, Author of: SteelTown For Mary, Memoirs From a Dick

1. Q:How did the idea for this book come about?A: Well, my wife was raised in Hamilton, but for 9 years prior to 2008, we had been living in different cities between Kingston and Oakville. During that time, she would tell people about her love for this great city. You could tell it was in her bones. Yet quite often, for people who don’t live here, or have never bothered to visit, they would kinda chuckle and joke about it being smog town. I could tell it hurt her, and it got me to thinking, that I needed to learn more about the city she loves since, I didn’t grow up here. Early in our marriage around 2004, my wife had an internship at Rogers in Toronto. So for the first time, I was coming to Hamilton to live while she did a 3 month run in T-dot. We packed up our belongings in two trucks and in the middle of the night with help from her family, we drove to Hamilton. Her step father owned a welding shop just off of Burlington Street, and in the back it had living quarters – by which I mean a sink, a microwave, and a shower. We quickly got a bed and set up house. During that time, she commuted to Toronto and I worked with my father in law. Each morning I would drive her from Kenilworth over to the GO Station on Hunter. It was mid winter, so the Christmas decorations were out, and at 5am the city was quiet and beautiful. Hamilton was starting to sink in. While working with my Father-in-law, I was able to see every part of Hamilton working the construction sites.
   After 3 months, and a job opportunity back towards the Quinte area where I am originally from, we left and Hamilton was far from my mind. But in that time, the pride of the city, the Skyway Bridge and the Ontario waters were very much becoming a romantic setting in my mind, which would become part of my book.

2. Q: So in essence, this book is a love story seen through your eyes and written to your wife?A: Much of it yes, when I talk about the waters, unicorns on the waves, or the Skyway – it is very much her and about the things she shared to me. But that includes the grit and the dirt, and the pride of the city overall. By living in the tougher part of the city for 3 months, I saw it all, and it was invigorating.

3. Q: So when did the idea for a detective story come about?A: Well, in 2008, my wife decided she wanted to go back to school and get a degree. She was accepted by McMaster and eventually earned her Masters. When we initially drove back to Hamilton and were looking at apartments, we searched mostly in the downtown area. While driving around the Hess Village area, I told my wife I was going to write something about Hamilton that would make her proud. In the past, I had written two books of poetry and decided I wanted to write a book of fiction, make it a mystery. Somehow though, everything went on the back burner for about 2 years. I was working in Waterdown on a horse farm, and then in Toronto at an office, my writing had almost dried up. In her 3rd year of school, I decided to sit out on our balcony in the Corktown neighbourhood and start writing a short murder mystery story, and use what I saw around me as a backdrop. I would include the apartment we lived in, the churches, and everything else within plain view, including the abandoned building directly below our apartment building.
   
4. Q: How did the short murder mystery become a collection of poems, which read like a story?A: Well, I had written several short stories about a cop and a few short stories about my neighbourhood, but they weren’t going anywhere. I printed them off and realized I could combine them into one large story, make my lead character become part of the other short stories. But even that wasn’t working. Then it hit me, why not take what I had already written, and make them into poetic chapters. Rearrange the order of the stories, so that it became a murder mystery on one hand, but more importantly a love letter to Hamilton.

5. Q:So if the reader reads this collection, would you say it is only relevant to the citizens of Hamilton?A: NO. It is certainly a map of the general downtown area, and I think it shows a very endearing side of what I feel for the city but, I think my lead character has a very universal story. It also tells the story of a retiring detective who is a widower, and has to come to terms with retirement, life choices, and about missing his wife. In the end, I think he comes out on top and there is potential for many more stories about him. My hope is that whether you are from Hamilton or from Belleville Ontario, you can pick it up and find a connection.

6. Q:Do you need to be a lover of poetry to enjoy this book?A:Not at all, what I wanted to do was, write something that could read as easily as a story. I just happen to think and write more clearly when I do poetry. But it is my hope that whether you read novels, poetry books, or graphic novels, you can pick this book up and find it enjoyable. I purposely avoided writing in any heavy poetic tones that someone might relate to what you would only read in school. It would be great if it turned some heavy novel readers over to poetry or graphic novels, because I think if you have a love for words, you can enjoy anything.

7. Q:Did you break any other rules in writing this book?A: I’m not sure, I guess in a lot of detective novels you find the lead usually listening to jazz. I love Jazz and there are some great Hamilton musicians in the area BUT I decided to go a different route. I wanted my old guy to be a lover of great rock n roll, so instead I have him listening to Tom Wilson through out the story. I grew up on Junkhouse music, when kids were going in to buy Nirvana or Oasis, I was grabbing Canadian guys like, The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, or Junkhouse. I actually saw Mr.Wilson perform on the Rita MacNeil show in the mid 90′s, and was blown away, the next day I ran out and purchased, STRAYS. My most favourite song on that album was BIG LAKE. It’s funny at the time, I had no idea about his relationship with Hamilton, or my future relationship to this great town. But when I started writing, I realized very quickly I needed a musical score, and who better when it comes to this town.

8. Q: Will there be any other books on the near horizon?A: Definitely, once I started writing SteelTown, the flood gates opened. In the last 6 months while my wife completed her Masters, I took time off and started writing full time. In the last 3 years, I’ve probably written 3 other poetic novels, and am working on a sequel to SteelTown. My lead may be retired, but there is so much more to explore about him, and I am by no means finished with writing about Hamilton, it is a second home to me now.

9. Q: What is the publishing date for this book, and where can people find it?A: The release date is going to be announced VERY shortly, and will appear electronically with a PRINT version to follow. There will be more details being released online shortly.

Touted as a working man’s poet, Martin Durkin has been writing professionally for the last 12 years. He has appeared in over twenty anthologies across North America, including, “And left a place to stand on”, a collection of poems and essays about the late great Al Purdy. Durkin has also published two collections of poetry, “Hypnotic Childhood”, and “The Sound of Quish”.
In 2013 Durkin was part of the Purdy Rednersville show, reading some of his latest work.
In 2014 a new book of poems called, ‘Steeltown for Mary, Memoirs from a Dick’ should be hitting the shelves. The book was edited by Richard Turtle whom Martin met during the Rednersville show. Thus far,the reviews for this book have been very positive………

Steel Town is so much more than a book of really good poems. It is a graphic novel without the artwork, a Sam Spade movie without motion or sound, a compelling social commentary without complicated language and a detective story without any of the boring bits. It’s also one hell of a good idea and an even better read……..RICHARD TURTLE (editor)

“An unusual and remarkably rich and evocative narrative told so adeptly by an author who knows how to use in almost impossibly few words to engage the reader. Durkin brings Hamilton and its characters to life, stanza by stanza.” -Graham Crawford,Owner Hamilton HIStory + HERitage

From Lindi Pierce, Heritage writer, researcher and member of the Local and National Al Purdy A-frame association boards….”If Dashiell Hammett had written poetry, he would have written this!”

“With this book he takes a long step forward into the ranks of Canadian poets of consequencee.– Chris Faiers, Canadian Poet and Recipient of the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Medal

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The Poetry of Pat Connors' "Scarborough Songs" - Terry Barker

McGee-Leninism Reborn? The poetry of Pat Connors' Scarborough Songs*

                                                   by Terry Barker


The field of People's Poetry in Canada in the last eighty years or so has been affected by reactions to what might be called the ideology of Mackenzie/Papineau-Leninism, the distinctively Canadian Communist cultural vision (on the analogy of the "market-Leninism" of China, or the "Marti-Leninism" of Cuba). Events in North America and around the world in the new millennium, however, have called into question the viability of the Canada which came into being on the basis (partly, at least) of the liberal populist elements of the British North America colonies of the 1840s, and thus, of the Marxian version of their thinking. A revision of this intellectual enterprise thus seems to be in order.

As I have argued elsewhere, a rejected radical tradition at the time of Confederation was that represented by Thomas D'Arcy McGee, the Irish-born Roman Catholic reformer and cultural critic. While verse by McGee became a well-known building block of Canada's emerging historical identity, his distinctive political perspective found no direct successors, its influence being confined to such Christian Communists as the Roman Catholic poet Joe Wallace (d. 1975), and the High Anglican People's Poet, Milton Acorn (1923 - 1986), a student of Wallace's work. That point of view combined social reform with cultural preservation and recovery within the framework of a genuinely Catholic Christianity. 

Recently, an echo of this what might be called "McGee-Leninism" has emerged in the circles of the "Catholic Left" and others in Canada influenced by Latin American "liberation theology". Notable in the poetic field in this regard is the Torontonian Patrick Connors, whose first collection of verse, Scarborough Songs, appeared from Lyricalmyrical in June, 2013. 

Although a traditionally slim volume, this eighteen-poem chapbook contains many nuggets of spiritual reflection combining personal and social dimensions of the author's experience in a highly compact Romantic manner. For example, Connors writes in "Renaissance":


                                Allowing the bounty of limitless grace
                              Growing in love we grow within each other
                                Bonding together, made ever stronger
                          Instruments of the divine by way of the sublime


The personal and the social are interwoven here in a way reminiscent of the "Romantic theology" of Britain and Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and indeed, the only direct literary debt mentioned in the collection is to Coleridge's "Something Childish, but Very Natural", a stanza from which is the epigraph for Connors' "Something Mature and Very Unnatural: Written on the border of Scarborough". In this poem, Connors (in a way similar to that of Coleridge's inspirer, the mystic philosopher and critic of Hegel, F.W.J. von Schelling), extends the vision of the Romantic tradition from the intramundane to the transmundane truths, noting in its last stanza:


                         Sleep stays not though a monarch bids:
                                  Me to wait and let Him redeem
                                           What's won before;
                        Vision revealed - opened the eyelids
                                               See all that I sought and more


Growing up the son of working-class immigrants from Newfoundland in and around the somewhat bleak eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough, the poet seems to have become acquainted with the muse who inspired Wallace and Acorn, both of whom had roots and associations with Eastern Canada as well as Toronto. Active with both his church and the Communist movement as they were, Connors has been prominent in the work of the International Festival of the Poetry of Resistance (IFPOR) group in Toronto for several years. This organization, set up in 2009 by Lisa Makarchuk and Maria Elena Mesa, later assisted by Carlos Angulo, the late Charles Roach and others, was established to promote poetry "on social justice themes" with what used to be called a "New Left" perspective. Currently, Connors' writing seems to be reflecting the tensions that are present in New Left ideology (and organizations based upon it) between the strong subjectivism of its Existentialist content, and the strong objectivism of its Materialist form. This philosophical problem is brilliantly described by Connors in his poem "Window", published in Northern Voices Journal:


                                              I imagine
                                              Laying down on
                                              The middle
                                              Of the ocean

                                              Looking down
                                              Through the clean clear ice
                                              At the bottom
                                              Of the world

                                              Wondering what
                                               Mysteries lie
                                               On the bitter
                                                Rocky floor



The bibliography is available on request from Terry Barker:

terrybarker2010@gmail.com

Terry Barker is a retired college teacher and independent scholar living in Toronto. He is the author of After Acorn (1999), Beyond Bethune (2006) and Continuing Chesterton (forthcoming, 2014).


*Scarborough Songs was published in Toronto in 2013 by Lyricalmyrical Press

Republication of this piece is encouraged, with first publication credited to this blog, Riffs and Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens.  

Old Orchard - James Deahl

Old Orchard



         Purdy Country Literary Festival





The water mill’s been gone

three generations, perhaps longer,

but the Moira contains its music.

Frogs have taken over the old pond;

Joe-Pye-weed lines the river’s banks.

The reading over, the poets disperse —

some to the forest, others walk upstream

in search of the beaver dam.



A few apples ripen on the boughs

of an abandoned orchard

despite the late spring, the cool summer.

Mahler could have understood

such isolation while nurturing

his bittersweet 9th Symphony,

a work he would never live to hear,

his health failing, his wife unfaithful.



Mahler finally died never knowing

the great acclaim that was to come.

No one will pick these apples.

They will remain long into November.

If the Moira holds the mill’s song,

truly the silent branches of these

enduring trees embody all the grace

of the extended adagio that closes his 9th.






       James Deahl

         Set in ZenRiver Gardens (Moira River)

Ray Souster Tribute Launch - Patrick Connors

Under the Mulberry Tree

By patrick on January 20, 2014

New Book and Launch event Honour Raymond Souster

Patrick Connors – Toronto:  On Wednesday, January 15^th, Quattro Books released Under the Mulberry Tree, a book of poems celebrating the life and legacy of Raymond Souster.  A true “People’s Poet”, Souster passed away in Toronto last year at the age of 91 after a lengthy illness.  This tribute to his work and personality was edited by longtime friend James Deahl.

James Deahl with Quattro Books employee Kristen Blank – Photo Credit: Anna Yin

“Even if Ray Souster had never written a poem, edited a literary magazine, published a book, or hosted a public reading, he was a truly great and honourable man,” Deahl said. “Ray showed how to live a life of grace and compassion. It was a privilege to know him.”

“I first encountered Ray Souster’s poems almost half a century ago,” said Norma West Linder, a contributing poet to the anthology. “Seeing the way he made the ordinary into the extraordinary with the art that disguises art, I was inspired to try my own hand at writing poetry.”

In all, there are 35 poets to the book, paying affectionate and admiring tribute to Souster, widely considered one of the most important figures in Canadian poetry in the second half of the 20^th Century. He was a groundbreaking poet of wide-ranging influence who distinguished himself as an editor, publisher, readings organizer, and mentor. The contributors include some who knew Souster personally and others from younger generations who are extending the tradition of modernist “People’s Poetry” in a Sousterian spirit.

“When I consider the mutual friendship I had with Ray, I’d have to say serendipity and pleasant fortune is my connection to him,” said Michael Fraser, another contributing poet, and a co-ordinator of the excellent Plasticine Poetry reading series.  “I was immensely fortunate to have been welcomed into his house and have the opportunity to bask in his brilliance.”

14 of the contributors appeared at the launch event, held in the upstairs of Tequila Bookworm, located at 512 Queen Street West.  One of them was noted Toronto-based poet and editor Mick Burrs.

“2 years before Ray passed away, James Deahl told me that I lived in the same neighbourhood as Souster,” Burrs said.  “In fact, I had been for a number of years.

“He was a major Canadian poet, and I got to meet one of my idols in person, although it took 70 years!

“After James introduced me to Ray, I in turn introduced him to Kent Bowman, who is also in the anthology.  Ray and Kent were jazz afficionado’s, and could talk about music for hours.

“Also, we would always talk poetry with Ray, sharing our poems with one another.  In general, he stood by a lot of poets, encouraging them, even starting the League of Canadian Poets.

“I felt saddened when he died.  You just enjoyed being with him.”

Burrs poem, “Basho Watching Baseball”, appears in the anthology, and marked the beginning of the reading.  “Another thing Ray and I talked about was baseball.  We would discuss it on the phone, how the Jays were doing, during commercial breaks.”

 

The second stanza is simply:

“During a dull night game
 at last the dome opens –
     ah, the full moon!”

“This is something I experienced at a Jays game, and, of course, many others have, as well.  Inside the climate-controlled environment of the Rogers Centre, you are not experiencing the reality of the outside world.  The shock of the last line, the appearance of the full moon, is what makes it a haiku.

“Whenever Ray was talking about something he was passionate about, whether it was jazz, baseball, or poetry, he forgot he wasn’t feeling well.  In turn, we forgot he wasn’t feeling well.”

The launch event itself included stories of Souster’s influence on the presenters, both personally and poetically.  It was emotional without being maudlin, and brought everyone in the crowded room into a kind of communal participation, whether they knew Souster or not. 

“I think one measure of the success of a book launch is the number of the writers in attendance who are not there to read their own work or promote themselves, but to celebrate the poetry of some other writer,” Deahl said. “More to the point, there were about 15 people in the room I had never seen before. When people attend a poetry event who you did not personally invite, that is amazing. It demonstrates the respect people have in their hearts for Ray Souster.”

Also, the service at Tequila Bookworm was very good.

In 2012, there were revivals of the extraordinary work of Irving Layton (http://newz4u.net/archives/28339), as well as Milton Acorn (http://newz4u.net/archives/32987).  I am hopeful that 2014 will see a compilation of Souster’s work released—or at least set in motion—to bring his work and his place in the Canadian literary canon to a new generation of readers.

with files from Quattro Books

Tribute Launch for Ray Souster Jan. 15th

QB Launch: "Under the Mulberry Tree: Poems for & about Raymond Souster" When: Wed, January 15, 7pm – 9pm Where: Tequila Bookworm, Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada (map) Please join editor James Deahl, consulting editor Allan Briesmaster, and a dozen of the 35 contributing poets for the launch of "Under the Mulberry Tree: Poems for & about Raymond Souster", from Quattro Books . Under the Mulberry Tree is an anthology of poems paying affectionate and admiring tribute to one of the most important figures in Canadian poetry in the second half of the 20th Century. Raymond Souster (1921-2012) was a groundbreaking poet of wide-ranging influence who distinguished himself like no one else, as an editor, publisher, readings organizer, and mentor. The poets contributing to this anthology include some who knew Souster personally and others from younger generations who are extending the tradition of modernist “People’s Poetry” in a Sousterian spirit.                                        ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  The shy man was absent (Raymond Souster Tribute, Nov. 22, 2011) The shy man was absent from his own poetry tribute sixty plus of us crammed the second floor of Runnymede Library the shy man's bookish retreat for most of his 90 years The shy man's imprint was Contact (irony universal in poetry's ascent) he made contact with poetry readings poetry magazines and poetry organizations poetry of the best, by the best but poetry for everyone The shy man slipped his teller's cage miraculously to birth, with a few close friends the modern age of Canadian poetry A bank teller, for God's sake who never swore, womanized stole a dime, overwrote a line Will he even show up for his own funeral? will we file past an empty casket the shy man busy elsewhere, composing perhaps When the shy man passes to join his legion of friends in the Canuck poetry pantheon we earthbound ones will need a statue or two to fix his shy spirit a place beside bronze Al in Queen's Park? (Al shy? - all poets are shy) or comfortable yards apart from an even shyer genius Glen on his permanent bench outside CBC quarters? until the time of bust in bronze poet after poet visits Ray in a nursing home just around Runnymede's comfortable corner  But tonight the shy man's legacy connects a tribal gathering of poets his tribute        not one empty chair Chris Faiers                           ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~  ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~  Jan.9, 2014 Hi James, Your wonderful tribute to Ray arrived yesterday. I picked it up last night on my way over to watch bad TV with Chase at Morley's. Heartfelt content - every damn poem! - beautifully produced - great intro which gives the scope of Ray's contributions to CanPo. What an honour to be in the company of such great poets - it's a Who's Who of CanPo. I was bragging to Morley about how many of our co-contributors are GG winners. Morley asked if that was as high an honour as receiving the Order of Canada. I explained there are dozens of OofCs awarded every year, but only ONE GG for poetry. Morley was suitably impressed  :  ) As with the Milt issue of THE AMBASSADOR, every one of your projects hits a new high. It's hard to encapsulate everything you've done for People's Poetry, Milt, & CanPo in general over the decades. I told Terry during our marathon 'chat' this week that even tho the Cuban censors, or Tai, or God knows who omitted Terry's piece on Milt & Che, well, this just adds some major spice to the stew (to hopelessly garble metaphors) of your many projects. My mechanic told me on Tuesday that the Sube should last a while longer after about $1K in repairs. So good news all around, except the mechanic won't be able to round up the parts for the major work on the Sube's suspension until next week, so my participation has become even more highly unlikely for the launch of MULBERRY TREE    : (  :  ( I'm also looking forward to the spring release of Terry's new book on People's Poetry. Our tribe (Fellowship of the Acorn?) is sure doing a lot of moving & grooving on the CanPo scene these days. And People's Poetry festivals are springing up everywhere like dandelions (yeah, but we did it first 8 years ago!). Mucho thanks & congrats again, James! peace & poetry power! Chris ...  & Chase Wrffffffffffffffffffffffffff!                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Christy and I share an intersection

(bad poem of the day)  


Christy & I share this intersection
Haight & The Bowery
Jim's flogging books of hipster insights
I'm selling flower power hippiedom

well no, it's Yonge & Bloor
& Stuart Ross is pushing absurdist short stories
Crad Kilodney's our key competition
but wait - that's bill bissett chanting
crazy sutras across the street
play kicking at a seagull & then offering
it stale bread from The Mission

Christy & I are half drunk -
hipsters & hippies come down to this
red wine goes plonk! and our street
sales money snatched from Acorn's
thorny grasp - Marxist diatribes & all

so we share the bottle with Milt's ghost
pour some on the sidewalk for Rimbaud
Baudelaire ... dead Red

at these crossroads we sell our souls
to the devil's delight
poems for sale in the street
down to this ... down to this
white light/white heat

the street corner preacher calls himself
Billy Blake ... it's all come down to this
crazy intersection - call it life, call
it poetry, call it madness

jones lights up a ghostly joint - tokes & passes
out ... damn it's getting crowded at
this small intersection - Shaunt is
drawing chalk diagrams - colouring
the sidewalk with mandala brilliance

damn this old blue barrel acid -
who said it wouldn't work!

Al Purdy 'Play Day' in Ameliasburgh

Monday, September 30, 2013

See ya in church, Al

 Were Al Purdy to be associated with any church, it's likely to be the Gothic church in Ameliasburgh, conjured so ominously in the poem 'Wilderness Gothic'.

Saturday, September 28 changed all that, as the talented actor/director Richard Turtle presented David Carley's one-man play 'Al Purdy at the Quinte Hotel' at Jeff Keary's performance venue in the 1849 former Methodist Church in Rednersville, Prince Edward County.





Richard did a superb job, moving smoothly from monologue to Purdy's poems. He was Al. I'm quite convinced I cannot do this man or the performance justice. So look for and don't miss Richard and 'Al Purdy at the Quinte Hotel' when it comes around again....A-framer Michele Lintern-Mole is exploring opportunities with Richard.

Jeff and Tracey Keary with Eurithe Purdy 

Eurithe Purdy graciously attended, queenly in an overstuffed armchair; I hope its comfort compensated for all those eyes turning to gauge her reaction at Richard's line "I wouldn't want to go to jail for killing a thing like you!"

"I'm used to it," she said afterwards.

Eurithe contributed two jars of hand-picked homemade wild grape jam to the silent auction. Yesterday some lovely folks in Toronto enjoyed it on their breakfast toast.

beer bottle & plaid jacket...

...and Al Purdy

 The Methodists were not a musical bunch, much too sober for that in the day. So it's as well that the superb acoustics of the church/studio were saved for today's congregations who enjoy jazz evenings and a variety of other performers at Active Arts Studio. At Saturday's Purdy Celebration, guitar player/singer Morley Ellis entertained - and what that man can't play...! His last song by the Travelling Wilburys, travelled with me for several days afterwards. Look for Morley, a Marmora boy!

Martin Durkin, Crazy Irishman

 Courageous the poet who agrees to read opposite Al Purdy. Martin Durkin, another local boy returned to his native Stirling, read from his work - and it stood up! Chris Faiers has long known Martin, and suggested he read at the event. Good writer. Good reader. It's the Irish in him.

Martin's work appears regularly on his CrazyIrishman blog, and recently poet Chris Faiers featured two of Martin's 'soup poems' on his Riffs and Ripples from Zen River Gardens site.

Kelly Bacon & Martin Durkin, Chris Faiers, Richard Turtle

And behind the scenes the usual suspects set up shop with a silent auction of signed Purdy titles, copies of the A-frame Anthology, and the Lowthian print of the A-frame. Raised five hundred and fifty bucks toward the A-frame restoration. Did OK.