Come back to this page for news and visit my books page for the latest reviews. Happy reading!
Sunday, 30 September 2018
สมัครคาสิโนออนไลน์
My new book is out! Be brave and happy!
Now that Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy is out, you can check out my events page for details on my upcoming appearances in Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo and other cities.
Come back to this page for news and visit my books page for the latest reviews. Happy reading!
Come back to this page for news and visit my books page for the latest reviews. Happy reading!
Friday, 17 August 2018
Tuesday, 17 July 2018
สมัครคาสิโนออนไลน์
You're invited to my book launch on September 10
Join me as I launch my sixth collection of poetry SELF-DEFENCE FOR THE BRAVE AND HAPPY and welcome my special musical guests THE DATABATS!
Thursday, 21 June 2018
RIP Koko. My poem "Ape" was written in her honour.
Today we woke up to the sad news that Koko the western lowland gorilla has died just shy of her 47th birthday on the 4th of July. I've been fascinated by her remarkable life since I was small child reading about her in the pages of National Geographic, and I have followed the on-going experiment of animal language use conducted by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation with great interest.
My poem "Ape" from my 2010 collection The Reinvention of the Human Hand was written in honour of Koko and her achievements, and also for Michael, another remarkable language-using gorilla who had been her companion but who died when he was only 26. Today, to mark her passing, I'm posting the poem here.
My poem "Ape" from my 2010 collection The Reinvention of the Human Hand was written in honour of Koko and her achievements, and also for Michael, another remarkable language-using gorilla who had been her companion but who died when he was only 26. Today, to mark her passing, I'm posting the poem here.
APE
for Koko, and for Michael
in memoriam
1
Ape born in Frisco, born out of darkness of mountain
forests, out of rain that doesn’t fall, but hovers.
Come, Ape, out of bushmeat trade and war zone, out of
coffee and tea for human need.
Come out of blood diamond, come out of strip mine, out
of pit viper and mosquito, out of tick.
Ape who lives in Woodside, Ape who rides in Honda,
who wears red sweater. Come speak.
Ape of legend, come. Out of colonial science, out of Bible,
come monster of Skull Island, of Original Sin, of
City of Gold, come take this kitten to your breast
and speak of love unconditional.
What did the old men make of you, Ape, when they drew
their Victorian cartoon, when they posed for their
daguerreotype holding your scalp? Teeth of the
meat-eater? Murderer’s hands? Bush devil?
Gargoyle? Proof?
Come Morning Star, come Adversary, daughter of the East.
Come beast-thing, come witch, child of the Nephilim,
giant in the Earth, come demonstrate the egg-shell
gentleness of your strength.
And what did the young men make of you when they came
with their machete genocide, radiating smoke?
They made you Lamb of the wilderness, one animal’s breath
at the centre of the green and white day. Hush-a-bye,
hidden, quiet with your kind on the unclimbed slopes.
There, in shadow, in the hovering rain, the family almost stirs.
2
Ape! Ape! We thought you were gone! We thought you
were gone into the book. We thought the damp
black covers of untreated hide had closed around
you forever.
Gone into the Book of Sasquatch. There were reports.
There were sightings.
Gone into the Book of Yeti. There were such bloodcurdling
cries in the highlands, footprints that vanished under
the snow falling in the pass. It left us cold.
Ape, we thought you were gone. It was aboard the hulking
wooden ships of Empire that you left us.
It was locked inside the gilded wagons of the circus, as tin
calliopes whistled notes of sweltering air, that at last
you left us.
We thought you were gone into shopping cart, into camera,
into cake. We thought you were gone, Ape, into a
discount mall display window for twenty-seven years
without soil or mountain, without soil or credit.
Ape, we feared, as the valleys emptied, as the land broke into
atolls and everything was distant, as the beaches
crumbled and the sea was left unreachable, Ape,
we feared the worst.
Stories make things closer. Come now, Ape, and speak.
There are stories of a boy who, by great misfortune,
fell into your powerful care, who lived with you
among the bamboo and lianas, and who learned,
as well, to be Ape.
Tell us, Ape. Are the stories true? Was he everything that
might make us proud?
Or did he shame us with his nakedness?
3
Ape of helicopter crash and gunboat, Kalashnikov foundling
in the burning brush, snatched by crate, smuggled by
truck, why be silent now?
Come now, Ape, out of black bazaar, out of bamboo cage on
meat-stained table, smelling of gasoline in the insect-
heavy air, come hoot the low, open vowel of your
name.
Ape of camera crew and cutting room, flickering between
solid shafts of tree trunk and weightless shafts of
light, come speak like this: flickering, tree, light,
and you will conjure the world of Ape.
We are listening. Across this forest floor darkened by limbs
crowded with birds, through the colliding sound waves
of their love songs and alarms, come speak.
Tell us, Ape, in your own words, why did the young men
come to the forest?
Squash meat gorilla. Mouth tooth.
And how did it sound to Ape?
Cry, sharp-noise loud!
And how did they look to Ape?
Bad think-trouble look-face.
And what has become of Ape’s mother?
Cut/neck, lip (girl) hole.
Come now, Ape, out of landmine and hand grenade, out of
the smouldering charcoal fires of Virunga. Downriver
upon the deep arteries of the Congo, upon aluminum
wings across the sea, come speak to us.
Speak to us, Ape, in research-centre sanctuaries with hoseable
linoleum floors. Come speak to us from government-
funded genome projects, on glass slides of blood, from
the ancient common darkness inside cells, come speak
to us, please, in the language of Ape.
Come quick. Come now. The family is gathering.
My copy of the October 1978 issue of National Geographic featuring a cover story about Koko. |
Saturday, 19 May 2018
สมัครคาสิโนออนไลน์
"Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy has arrived, and not a moment too soon! Nothing less than a manual for navigating the current landscape of booby-traps and hidden unravelling. An invaluable aid in this time of troubled spirits, muddled truths, and convoluted thinking. Paul Vermeersch has created a template to help us all traverse the highways and bi-ways of an increasingly confused and confusing world full of misinformationalism and bald-faced lies."
Praise from Mark Mothersbaugh for Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy
"Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy has arrived, and not a moment too soon! Nothing less than a manual for navigating the current landscape of booby-traps and hidden unravelling. An invaluable aid in this time of troubled spirits, muddled truths, and convoluted thinking. Paul Vermeersch has created a template to help us all traverse the highways and bi-ways of an increasingly confused and confusing world full of misinformationalism and bald-faced lies."
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER
Friday, 9 February 2018
Wednesday, 31 January 2018
สมัครคาสิโนออนไลน์
Four poems in The /Temz/ Review
I'm really honoured to have four new poems in the second issue of The /Temz/ Review from London, Ontario. As a Western alum, it's good see so much literary energy and renewal in the Forest City!
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Click here to read the poems. |
Monday, 15 January 2018
Books I've been editing for spring 2018
I happy to share the cover designs for the novels and poetry collections I've been editing for Wolsak and Wynn's spring 2018 season. Click on the images to learn more about the books.
Designs for Ten-Headed Alien and Adjacentland by Ingrid Paulson.
Design for Listen Before Transmit by Natalie Olsen of Kisscut Design.
Design In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo by Michel Vrana.
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Ten-Headed Alien by David James Brock Poetry |
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Listen Before Transmit by Dani Couture Poetry |
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In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo by Claire Tacon Novel |
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Adjacentland by Rabindranath Maharaj Novel |
Designs for Ten-Headed Alien and Adjacentland by Ingrid Paulson.
Design for Listen Before Transmit by Natalie Olsen of Kisscut Design.
Design In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo by Michel Vrana.
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