Always Now: The Collected Poems, Vol. 1

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta. He is
the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

Now in her mid-80s, Margaret Avison is perhaps the finest living poet.
Her career began with poems in A.J.M. Smith’s Book of Canadian Poetry
(1943), though her first book did not appear until 1960. This new book
is volume one of a long-overdue collected poems. It contains her first
two books, Winter Sun (1960) and The Dumbfounding (1966), her
translations, and the new and previously uncollected poems that appeared
in her Selected Poems (1991). The foreword has valuable comments on her
development as a poet. The next volume will collect her remaining books.
The design and layout of this work is up to the usual high standards of
The Porcupine’s Quill. Margaret Avison deserves no less for her
beautifully crafted and profound work. Her artistic integrity and
spiritual depth are everywhere apparent in her poetry.