some author activity: Grayhurst, Niespodziany, Ross, Beaulieu + Novak,

Irma Kurti interviews Allison Grayhurst for Alessandria Today; Benjamin Niespodziany has two new poems up at havehashad; Stuart Ross has posted his annual birthday poem; Richard Capener posted a podcast interview with Derek Beaulieu via his substack; and JoAnna Novak has a poem up at Literary Hub.

some author activity: Grayhurst, Cochrane, Reed, Barwin, Poe, Graham, Adams + Earl,

Allison Grayhurst has two poems in the new issue of Ann Arbor Review; Mark Cochrane has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series on the dusie blog; Marthe Reed has "Five Poems from Binx's Blues, with a Note on the Process (On Lines from Walker Percy)" over at Jacket2, alongside a short piece Gary Barwin wrote on the visual poetry of Karl Jirgens; Deborah Poe is all over Atticus Review lately, with new poems, an essay and an interview conducted by Lea Graham; Carrie Olivia Adams is one of five poets reading on November 8 at a Rescue Press anthology launch in Iowa City, Iowa, a reading to be live-streamed online; and Amanda Earl also has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series up at the dusie blog.

Ryan Pratt reviews Allison Grayhurst and Shannon Maguire

Ryan Pratt was good enough to review recent above/ground press titles by Allison Grayhurst and Shannon Maguire over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.

See the original post here:

Recent Reads: Allison Grayhurst and Shannon Maguire

The River Is Blind by Allison Grayhurst
A Web Of Holes by Shannon Maguire

Both titles published by above/ground press, December 2012.

    “He came. He is what everyone needs
    But the pavement is thick
    the ground beneath is rich
    saturated with worms,
    moving
    thick
    with worm motion
    moving
    at worm speed.”

This stanza, snipped from the tail-end of “In the Thighs”, illustrates an existential curiosity that courses through Allison Grayhurst’s latest collection. We’ll get to the “He” part in a minute. But first, it’s Grayhurst’s physical constraints that comfort us: a box sitting at the top of the stairs, housecats in states of wakefulness and sleep, the “snails and moss” that preoccupy her. Indeed, The River Is Blind situates itself firmly in the familial but imbues those relationships and domestic touchstones with a disembodied calm. Ambition and disenchantment linger along the fences of Grayhurst’s property but she remains candidly in the present:  embracing “the comfort of sweaters and knitted socks” for “First Snow of Winter”, “the child sitting and staring and waiting for the coin” in “Wallpaper Stars”.

In lesser hands, muses such as these might’ve resulted in verses of weak-kneed contentedness. But Grayhurst’s voice remains one of detachment, webbing daily pleasures into greater meditations on love and God – the “He” that churns The River Is Blind’s family soil. Through spiritual lens, poems like “Everything Happens” and “Flies” counteract steadfast faith with insights on the material world, a separate world; a place where people grind flowers for honey. From “Flies”:

    “What faith was plucked with the flowers
    as all their little tongues reached out to pocket
    the short-term scent?”

Naturally it’s a tad intimidating when the first word of a first poem has you running for the nearest dictionary. But “epoché”, meaning to suspend our understanding of the external world in order to relate to phenomena on a purely conscious level, proves more an ideological gateway for Shannon Maguire than a term reserved for Greek philosophy. In A Web Of Holes, epoché operates as a palette-cleanser, an italicized provocation plopped down as if to ready us for enlightenment, however fleeting.

The delight of Maguire’s long verse doesn’t lie at the heart of some mystic truth but in the trail of crumbs by which we readers become seekers. Ringing true to my newfound understanding of epoché, her language prefers a disorienting narrative, one that repeatedly suspends our ability to find grounded context amid visceral and scholarly hurdles.

    “external acoustic crunch
    undulating forms wet with
    reflex
    yard line dirt around her waist
    dodecahedron kiss
    in with clock and guests
    climbing desire
    elongated, erect seconds”

Besides illustrating her palette for abstract sensuality and Greek imagery, this excerpt identifies A Web Of Holes as acrostic; E, U, R, Y, D, I, C, and E trafficking the bulk of Maguire’s verses in honour of Eurydice, wife of Orpheus. This opens up some juicy parallels between ancient lore and Maguire’s sharp insights on the ownership of femininity. A temperamental breakdown in syntax midway through introduces a conflict in reinterpreting Eurydice’s tale; a commentary on the myth-making roots of Greek literature, perhaps.

You may wish to keep that dictionary handy but A Web Of Holes wouldn’t be nearly as exciting without its obfuscations which, with a bit of a learning curve, unveil ephemeral gems of raw, almost carnal, beauty. To close, here’s an example of Maguire’s hard-fought harmony:

    “Evening’s gaze, the limit of voice
    Unison of suspension
    Ritenuto.
    You watch them
    Dying
    It is a bright and chilly morning
    Collapse, there are still not
    Enough independent girls

    Eglinton at five am, floating
    Ukiyoe
    Rebuilt from a country road
    You watch them dreaming
    Date the world from those Cordova Street cherry blossoms
    Ink brushes against her forehead
    Cassanation of gossiping motors
    Eviction notice floating, floating”

some author activity: Ladouceur, Grayhurst, mclennan, McKinnon + Robertson

Ben Ladouceur has some poems in Dragnet #7; Alison Grayhurst posted a new poem up on her blog; rob mclennan has four prose poems in Talking Writing; part two of the four-part interview with Barry McKinnon, conducted by rob mclennan, is now online at the filling Station blog; Lisa Robertson has a bio up on The Poetry Foundation site (with various links to her activity); and above/ground press (along with many other local writers, publishers and events) are mentioned in Kelley Tish Baker's Ottawa article on the Ploughshares blog.

Poets in Profile: Roland Prevost + Allison Grayhurst at Open Book

Two above/ground press authors answer the "Poets in Profile" interviews over at Open Book: Ottawa poet Roland Prevost, over at Open Book: Ontario (anticipating his chapbook launch tonight), and Toronto poet Allison Grayhurst, over at Open Book: Toronto. Thanks, Open Book!

new from above/ground press: The River is Blind, by Allison Grayhurst

The River is Blind

Allison Grayhurst

$4

Blown

Blown like a grain of sand from a hollow twig.

It is beautiful to be blown.

Blown, into the winding forward thrust

where good happens with the movement

of each day and the fire-cracker burn

is a burn of celebration.

Carried through the radar-stream

into an easeful position where

the goal is getting nearer at a slow pace

and old patterns are disintegrating,

remembered but not renewed.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press

December 2012

a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Allison Grayhurst has had her poetry published in over 115 literary magazines in Canada, the U.S., England, India and Australia. Her book, Somewhere Falling, was published by Beach Holme Publishers, a Porcepic Book. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband, two children, two cats and a dog. She also sculpts, working in clay.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com