Love Poems for the Media Age

Alain Létourneau is a librarian in the J.N. Desmarais Library at
Laurentian University.

This 84-poem anthology gathers the works of 47 authors, including
Antonia Banyard, bill bisset, Mark Cochrane, Billie Livingston, Matt
Mason, Catherine McNeil, and Sheri-D Wilson. Most of the contributors
are from Canada, although the United States, England, and Australia are
represented as well. The book is divided into eight sections titled
Issues, The Other, Seven Sisters on Love, Landscapes of Love, Our
Beloved Icons, Intermediaries, Love Blooms, and The Language of Love.

So, how does Love Poems for the Media Age distinguish itself from all
the other poetry anthologies that feature love as their main theme? As
editor David Samis notes in his introduction, poetry is probably the
most privileged channel for breaking with the idealization of love
carried on by the mass media (television, cinema, music etc.). This
“breaking” is well exemplified by Christine Stoddards’s “i
quiet”: “hard in the back seat / with ones(s) you will not approve /
She(s) you will hit, punch chase down, shame, call / ‘Faggot.’ /
Stealing from through fear / i quiet.” This book, in other words, is
not for fans of the soft romance portrayed on television shows like The
Wedding Story or The Bachelor.