Alphabet of Desire

Peter Baltensperger is the editor and publisher of Moonstone Press and
the author of Arcana.

Norris’s sixteenth volume of poetry—handsomely designed by ECW Type
& Art—attests once again to the steadily increasing strength of one of
the important voices in contemporary Canadian literature. The title
sequence of 39 prose poems speaks in powerful imagery and carefully
chosen language of desires: the desire to live, to love, to be oneself
complete, to experience everything to the fullest, and to find joy and
fulfillment in the smallest—and the largest—aspects of existence.
Running the gamut from the ordinary and everyday to the spiritual and
the profound, the items in the “alphabet” are gems of insight
clothed in poetic expressions that touch the reader where it matters
most—at the core of emotions, where the soul responds to language and
resonates with the creative imagination. From “Angels” to “Zen
Monday,” from “Baseball” to “Night Sky” to “White Lilacs,”
these prose poems are filled with beautiful yet often disturbing images
of what constitutes life, with “ecstasy floating like a water-lily on
a pond of sadness” (“Zen Monday”).

Preceding the title sequence is a 14-part “meditation on creativity
and renewal” in which the poet reflects on the passing of time and on
the rejuvenating power of the imagination, “the womb giving birth to
the world.” As full of passion as “Alphabet of Desire,” “The
Ascent of Spring” prepares the creative ground for the main part of
the book. Here the poet provides glimpses into the workings of his
imagination as he waits for a metaphorical spring that will allow him to
flower, like “the yellow crocuses,” in the act of writing, creating,
and becoming. Together the two sections form an admirable whole, moving
in its openness and freshness, full of wonder and awe at the delicacy of
existence and the multitude of aspects that make it wonderful and
awesome to behold.