The New Long Poem Anthology

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
author of Calling Texas.

Thesen, a poet, has assembled a useful supplement to Michael
Ondaatje’s Long Poem Anthology. The long poem is an important Canadian
form; this volume gives an excellent sampling of recent long poems, and
it goes back to Louis Dudek, the progenitor of the contemporary long
poem, reprinting his “At Lac en Coeur.” Major works by George
Bowering, Christopher Dewdney, Roy Kiyooka, Robert Kroestch, Daphne
Marlatt, David McFadden, bp Nichol, Michael Ondaatje, Lola Lemire
Tostevin, Fred Wah, and Phyllis Webb are included. Stuart McKinnon’s
“Sex at Thirty-One” seems a little brief to be classed as a long
poem, though the boundaries of this genre are hard to define. It’s
disappointing that Thesen hasn’t included any of her own poetic
sequences here, though her editorial modesty is admirable.

Textual apparatus includes a disappointingly brief introduction and
copious endnotes with bibliographical and biographical material on the
authors, along with their own statements about their work. The long poem
is rarely represented in poetry anthologies—which are cramped for
space—so this collection makes an excellent supplement for readers
(and teachers) who want to explore such an important aspect of Canadian
poetry.