Véhicule Days: An Unorthodox History of Montreal's Véhicule Poets

M. Morgan Holmes teaches English at McGill University.

F.R. Scott, A.J.M. Smith, Louis Dudek, Leonard Cohen: these are some of
the men who put Montreal on the map of English-language poetry in
Canada. Most recently, the so-called Véhicule Poets contributed their
voices to the city’s flowering of verse. Ken Norris’s wonderfully
eclectic anthology chronicles the short lifespan of the group, which
included Norris himself, as well as Endré Farkas, Artie Gold, Tom
Konyves, John McAuley, Stephen Morrissey, and Claudia Lapp.

The Véhicule Poets existed as a collective from about 1973 to 1982
because, in Norris’s words, “they shared an interest in hip American
poetry and experimental European art movements.” Like many other
literary movements in the Western world, the Véhicule moment in the sun
was characterized by a certain heady boldness and challenge to what was
seen to be the social and artistic status quo. The members’ enthusiasm
and belief that they were creating something new is communicated in
several of the essays in the volume. One of Norris’s essays from 1978
claims, for instance, that contemporary Montreal poets “attempt to
uncover the poetic honey that’s to be found hidden beneath the rubble
of this age’s lifestyle and language.” In a 1980 interview with
Dudek, Morrissey makes the unequivocal claim, regarding his poetry, that
“I just churn it out without thinking and then certain principles
appear. But why must we have principles? What do principles have to do
with writing poetry?” It is direct, candid statements such as these
that give this anthology such a fresh voice. While one may disagree with
Norris’s claim or Morrissey’s artistic perspective, the fact remains
that they present a striking record of an important movement.

One of the particular virtues of Véhicule Days is its wide variety of
photographs and graphics, which form a rich source of social history in
themselves. In addition, the inclusion of “new work” from the
Véhicule Poets at the end of the volume contrasts provocatively with
the poetry selections from the 1970s. Perhaps the most enlightening
aspect of all is the interviews, conducted in the 1990s, with Konyves,
Farkas, Morrissey, and Norris. These are more than mere catch-up
reports, reflecting as they do on the state of poetry then and now. The
interviews, like much else in the volume, offer rich insights into why
artistic communities form and how cultural politics get articulated.