Canadian Poetry Now: 20 Poets of the '80's

Mary Ellen Miller was a poet and Associate Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

Twenty contemporary Canadian poets are represented in this excellent collection. The book contains a fair sampling of the works of these young writers (nearly all were born after 1945), biographical notes, and a photograph of each poet. The twenty (ten men and ten women) have impressive publishing records: most have published several books of poems.

Ken Norris, editor and one of the featured poets, states that the purpose of his anthology is “to focus attention specifically on the poets of the eighties, just now coming into their own.” These are the voices, some of the major voices, of the present decade, but as Norris points out, there are traces of trends from earlier decades: linguistic experimentation, surrealistic effects, a concern with aesthetics, and a strong sense of place. But what all these poets have in common is that they “pay attention to the facts, conditions and issues of living. Even their subjective lyrics are written in the light of their understanding of a relation to the world.” Though brief, this introductory essay is helpful; expanded, it would have enhanced the usefulness of this anthology as a textbook on contemporary Canadian poetry.

There are so many good poems here that it is difficult to single out a few for special reference. Roo Borson’s “Abundance” is a beautiful example of the picture-making poem, and lines like

The hills are knobbed with hay,

as if they were full of drawers about to be

I look at the ground

as if it were one-way glass.

The dead can see me. (“October, Hanson’s Field”)

show her as one of the most skillful image-makers in this group.

Marilyn Bowering’s poems — dark subjects, darkly handled — and Judith Fitzgerald’s “step father” are standouts.

Artie Gold’s work is consistently effective: he has something to say and says it well. His “Old Road Song Poem” about leaving one’s mark, even if the mark is only

no more than a hair

discovered in a gravy

is zippy, alive, tremendously appealing. Erin Mouré, Robyn Sarah, and Sharon Thesen are poets one wants to read more from. Ken Norris’s “You are reading this too fast” — though not a spectacular poem — gives such good advice that it should perhaps be printed in all poetry anthologies.