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Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir
Small Beneath the Sky is a tender, unsparing portrait of a family. It is also a book about place. Growing up in a small prairie city, where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, Lorna Crozier never once dreamed of becoming a writer. Nonetheless, the grace, wisdom, and wit of her poetry have won her international acclaim. In this marvellous volume of recollections, she charts the geography that has shaped her character and her sense of home.
Crozier vividly depicts her hometown of Swift Current, with its one main street, its two high schools-the one on top of the hill was for the wealthy kids - and its three beer parlours, where her father spent most of his evenings. She captures crystal moments from her childhood - delivering newspapers with her brother in the blue-snow light of a winter morning, planting potatoes under a pale full moon, enjoying an illicit night swim in the town's public pool. She writes unflinchingly, too, about the grief and shame caused by poverty and alcoholism. At the heart of the book is Crozier's fierce love for her mother, Peggy, her no-nonsense champion and moral guide.
The people in these pages are drawn simply, without adornment, as befits the landscape in which they live. Interspersed with the narratives of daily life - sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking - are prose poems evoking the elements. These "first causes" - dust, light, rain, wind, snow-take on mythical qualities in Crozier's sure hands, imparting ancient knowledge about the prairie grasslands and their effect on those who have put down stakes there.
Rich in detail, generous in spirit, this unconventional memoir pays tribute to life's mysteries, secrets, and surprises. Lorna Crozier approaches the past with a tactile, arms-wide-open sense of discovery. Calling on the ghosts of ancestors and the power of memory, she has traced her beginnings with a poet's precision and an open heart.
Crozier vividly depicts her hometown of Swift Current, with its one main street, its two high schools-the one on top of the hill was for the wealthy kids - and its three beer parlours, where her father spent most of his evenings. She captures crystal moments from her childhood - delivering newspapers with her brother in the blue-snow light of a winter morning, planting potatoes under a pale full moon, enjoying an illicit night swim in the town's public pool. She writes unflinchingly, too, about the grief and shame caused by poverty and alcoholism. At the heart of the book is Crozier's fierce love for her mother, Peggy, her no-nonsense champion and moral guide.
The people in these pages are drawn simply, without adornment, as befits the landscape in which they live. Interspersed with the narratives of daily life - sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking - are prose poems evoking the elements. These "first causes" - dust, light, rain, wind, snow-take on mythical qualities in Crozier's sure hands, imparting ancient knowledge about the prairie grasslands and their effect on those who have put down stakes there.
Rich in detail, generous in spirit, this unconventional memoir pays tribute to life's mysteries, secrets, and surprises. Lorna Crozier approaches the past with a tactile, arms-wide-open sense of discovery. Calling on the ghosts of ancestors and the power of memory, she has traced her beginnings with a poet's precision and an open heart.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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331 people want to read
About the author
Lorna Crozier
56 books85 followersLorna Crozier was born in 1948 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. As a child growing up in a prairie community where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, she “never once thought of being a writer.” After university, Lorna went on to teach high school English and work as a guidance counsellor. During these years, Lorna published her first poem in Grain magazine, a publication that turned her life toward writing. Her first collection Inside in the Sky was published in 1976. Since then, she has authored 14 books of poetry, including The Garden Going on Without Us, Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence, Inventing the Hawk, winner of the 1992 Governor-General’s Award, Everything Arrives at the Light, Apocrypha of Light, What the Living Won’t Let Go, and most recently Whetstone. Whether Lorna is writing about angels, aging, or Louis Armstrong’s trout sandwich, she continues to engage readers and writers across Canada and the world with her grace, wisdom and wit. She is, as Margaret Laurence wrote, “a poet to be grateful for.”
Since the beginning of her writing career, Lorna has been known for her inspired teaching and mentoring of other poets. In 1980 Lorna was the writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College in Swift Current; in 1983, at the Regina Public Library; and in 1989 at the University of Toronto. She has held short-term residencies at the Universities of Toronto and Lethbridge and at Douglas College. Presently she lives near Victoria, where she teaches and serves as Chair in the Writing Department at the University.
Beyond making poems, Lorna has also edited two non-fiction collections – Desire in Seven Voices and Addiction: Notes from the Belly of the Beast. Together with her husband and fellow poet Patrick Lane, she edited the 1994 landmark collection Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets; in 2004, they co-edited Breathing Fire 2, once again introducing over thirty new writers to the Canadian literary world.
Her poems continue to be widely anthologized, appearing in 15 Canadian Poets X 3, 20th Century Poetry and Poetics, Poetry International and most recently in Open Field: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poets, a collection designed for American readers.
Her reputation as a generous and inspiring artist extends from her passion for the craft of poetry to her teaching and through to her involvement in various social causes. In addition to leading poetry workshops across the globe, Lorna has given benefit readings for numerous organizations such as the SPCA, the BC Land Conservancy, the Victoria READ Society, and PEERS, a group committed to helping prostitutes get off the street. She has been a frequent guest on CBC radio where she once worked as a reviewer and arts show host. Wherever she reads she raises the profile and reputation of poetry.
Since the beginning of her writing career, Lorna has been known for her inspired teaching and mentoring of other poets. In 1980 Lorna was the writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College in Swift Current; in 1983, at the Regina Public Library; and in 1989 at the University of Toronto. She has held short-term residencies at the Universities of Toronto and Lethbridge and at Douglas College. Presently she lives near Victoria, where she teaches and serves as Chair in the Writing Department at the University.
Beyond making poems, Lorna has also edited two non-fiction collections – Desire in Seven Voices and Addiction: Notes from the Belly of the Beast. Together with her husband and fellow poet Patrick Lane, she edited the 1994 landmark collection Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets; in 2004, they co-edited Breathing Fire 2, once again introducing over thirty new writers to the Canadian literary world.
Her poems continue to be widely anthologized, appearing in 15 Canadian Poets X 3, 20th Century Poetry and Poetics, Poetry International and most recently in Open Field: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poets, a collection designed for American readers.
Her reputation as a generous and inspiring artist extends from her passion for the craft of poetry to her teaching and through to her involvement in various social causes. In addition to leading poetry workshops across the globe, Lorna has given benefit readings for numerous organizations such as the SPCA, the BC Land Conservancy, the Victoria READ Society, and PEERS, a group committed to helping prostitutes get off the street. She has been a frequent guest on CBC radio where she once worked as a reviewer and arts show host. Wherever she reads she raises the profile and reputation of poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
July 30, 2020
Amazing. Beautiful. I want to buy it so I can read it over and over again. The more I read Lorna Crozier, the more I swoon.
January 3, 2019
Lorna Crozier is a national treasure. Her writing is disciplined, descriptive and straight to the heart. She depicts her growing up years in Swift Current Saskatchewan with a clarity and tenderness that is awe inspiring. Oh, to create one sentence with her mastery.
December 31, 2011
Anyone who has grown up under a prairie sky will find much to connect with in Crozier's beautiful book about her life in small town Saskatchewan. Crozier is a celebrated Canadian poet and she lends her delicate touch with words to this book of short stories, giving readers a well-thought look into prairie life. You feel like you're reading a book of poetry. The wheat, the streets, the sky - they come alive.
Although having growing up in "modern day" Saskatchewan, my parents and their parents exist in the Saskatchewan's past. Their stories are woven through the thick wheat fields, down into the earth and exist in all of us who call this place home.
Although having growing up in "modern day" Saskatchewan, my parents and their parents exist in the Saskatchewan's past. Their stories are woven through the thick wheat fields, down into the earth and exist in all of us who call this place home.
February 11, 2015
As beautifully written memoir as I've ever read. The pieces on the passing of her mother are especially moving.
June 14, 2025
This is a memoir only a poet could write.
Lorna Crozier explains how the geography of her home and her early family life in Swift Current Saskatchewan gave her an understanding of the world and shaped the person she became. She tells her story through the prism of a quote from Aristotle who believed there was something beyond cause and effect, some immoveable force he called "the first cause". So, it is through the framework of these "first causes" that she titles her chapters and shares her past. The elements of wind, dust, snow, light and grasslands have profound effects on those who live in areas where they predominate and Lorna tries to show readers how that happens.
Swift Current is a small town with one main street, two high schools and three beer parlors. Small town life has its own particular challenges, easy if you have money and more difficult if you don't. Everyone knows everyone else's business and secrets are hard to keep. This proved a challenge for Lorna's family who had little money and a big secret, her father’s drinking. For Lorna, the worse part was having to lie to keep the secret. It was their skeleton in the closet, their "mad child hidden in the attic". The shame of his drinking haunted his family although he was not violent and never abused them. It was her father’s drinking that ultimately drew Lorna closer to her mother.
The Croziers were not a prosperous family and Lorna's mother was one of the few women who worked to put food on the table. She collected tickets for the changing baskets at the community swimming pool, sold tickets for hockey games and worked in a law office for a dollar an hour. Her father Emerson had a spotty work history and was often out of work. He played cards, pool and games of chance and often won. He pitched winning softball, won curling championships, raced horses and sometimes worked in the oil patch.
The Croziers rented rather than owned their home and often had renters on the top floor to help with expenses. Life was always about making sure they had money for the necessities, but at one time they had a boat and they did own a car, one that Emerson was not able to drive because he was inebriated or had lost his license. The car and boat were purchases Emerson made, because he believed his paycheck was his to spend on whatever he wanted, whether it was at the Legion, the hotel bars, or the local store.
Most of the book revolves around Lorna’s early childhood. She started school later than her friends, skipping kindergarten because it required a fee and entered grade one not knowing the alphabet or how to read. She quickly made up that gap and later produced a poem that was recited to the class and to the school principal. That accomplishment gave her a sense of satisfaction and marked the small beginning of her writing career.
Her childhood was filled with the usual childhood games, great times spent with her grandmother, playing with her brother Barry's Pomeranian named Tiny and dodging the neighbourhood bully Larry. Her high school years were a time when she desperately tried to fit in, troubled that could not afford to take singing lessons like her friends and ashamed of the appearance of their home and yard. But her mother, who believed her children could do anything, encouraged Lorna and pushed her to apply for the lead role in the annual operetta, a role she won that year and the three that followed. Her mother was also a very practical woman and when Lorna's friend Lynda became pregnant at fifteen, told her daughter that if she ever did that, she would be out on her own.
At this point readers are two thirds of the way through the book and from there the years go by quickly. Her brother Barry leaves home, goes into the air force and then marries. Suddenly, Lorna is marrying a man she met at university. Then in the eighties, she becomes a writer in residence at a community college, leaves her husband and moves in with a man named Patrick. These events are all told in a rush and readers have little background to understand how it all happened.
The final parts of the book detail her parents decline and in particular the death of her mother with whom she was very close. Lorna is now in Vancouver and again chunks of time have just flown by.
Many of the passages in this memoir are interspersed with poetry/prose passages about the prairie landscape. Crozier’s language in these sections is rich and succinct, demonstrating clearly that she is a poet.
This memoir had a strong beginning detailing Crozier’s early childhood, but after graduation from high school, things take off like a rocket with the last third of the book very rushed. Readers who want to hear the details of her later life, especially the period when she started to write, will be disappointed as they never get to know what led her to writing, the difficulties she encountered and what facilitated her award-winning path.
The memoir almost feels like a love letter to her mother rather than a book about Lorna herself. She is open about her admiration of her, a woman who refused to be pitied. However, I am not ready to criticize this memoir as for me, they are very personal things, what the writer wants them to be. Some may be written for the writer and not necessarily for others--but the writer puts the volume in the public space if readers are interested to read it.
I, for one, was glad to have the opportunity.
In this small volume, Lorna Crozier produces a memoir only a poet could write. She tells us how the geography of her home and her early family life in Swift Current Saskatchewan gave her an understanding of the world and shaped the person she became.
She chooses to tell her story through the prism of a quote from Aristotle, who believed there was something beyond cause and effect, some immoveable force he called "the first cause". So it is through the prism of these "first causes" that she titles her chapters and shares her past. The elements of wind, dust, snow, light and grasslands have profound effects on those who live in areas where they predominate, and Lorna tries to show us how that happens.
Swift Current is a small town with one main street, two high schools and three beer parlors. Small town life has its own particular challenges. It is easy if you have money and more difficult if you don't. Everyone knows every one else's business and secrets are hard to keep. So this proved a challenge for Lorna's family. They had little money and they did have a secret, her Dad's drinking.
For Lorna, the worse part of that was the taboos around it, the burden to keep it secret and having to lie about it.
Most of the book revolves around her early childhood. She grows up with her older brother Barry who is good at sports and protects her from the school bullies. The Croziers are not a prosperous family and Lorna's mother is one of the few women who work to put food on the table. She collects tickets for the changing baskets at the community swimming pool, sells tickets for hockey games, and works in a law office for a dollar an hour. Lorna's father Emerson has a spotty work history and he is often out of work. The shame of his drinking haunts the whole family although he is not violent and never abuses them. It is their skeleton in the closet, their "mad child hidden in the attic". Emerson plays cards, pool and games of chance, and often wins. He pitches winning softball, wins curling championships and races horses. And sometimes he works in the oil patch. But it is her Dad's drinking that ultimately draws Lorna closer to her mother.
The Croziers rented rather than owned their home and usually had renters on the top floor to help with expenses. Life was always about making sure they had money for the necessities. But, they weren't so poor that they did not have a car, one that Emerson could not usually drive because he was inebriated or had lost his license. They also had a boat at one time. These purchases were the result of Emerson believing his paycheck was his alone to spend on whatever he wanted, whether it was at the Legion, the hotel bars, or the local store.
Lorna starts school later than her friends. She doesn't attend kindergarten which required payment of a fee, and thus she enters grade one not knowing the alphabet or able to read. She makes up that gap quickly though, and later produces a poem that is recited to the class as well as to the school principal. That event produces waves of self satisfaction and was the beginning of her writing career.
Her childhood is filled with the usual games of children, including great times spent with her grandmother, playing with her brother Barry's Pomeranian named Tiny, burying pet animals, and dodging the neighbourhood bully Larry. But these times were also marred by her shame of the look of their house and their yard. Lorna's high school years were predominated by a desperate longing to belong and fit in. Her fiends took singing lessons, something Lorna's parents could not afford to give her. Yet her mother, who always believed her children who could do anything, encouraged her and pushed her to apply for the lead role in the annual operetta, a role she won that year and the three that followed. But her mother was also a very practical woman, and when Lorna's friend Lynda becomes pregnant at fifteen, she tells her daughter that if she ever did that, she would be out on her own.
When Lorna leaves her childhood and teenage years behind we are two thirds of the way through the book and from there the years seem to go by "in chunks". Her brother Barry leaves home, goes into the air force and then is married. All of a sudden Lorna is getting married to a man she met at university. In the eighties, she becomes a writer in residence at a community college, but we have no idea how all this happens. And then suddenly she is leaving her husband and moving in with Patrick. How she met him or what her early married life is like, we never know.
The final parts of the book detail her parents decline and in particular the death of her mother with whom she was so close. The last pages of the book tell us how she met her mother after her mother's death. Lorna is now in Vancouver and again chunks of time have just flown by.
Many of the passages in this story are interspersed with poetry/prose passages about the prairie landscape. The language is incredibly beautiful. It is clear she is a poet. The language is rich and succinct.
My disappointment with the book lies in a couple of areas. First, I loved the beginning, the stories of her early childhood. But after graduation from high school things seem to take off like a rocket, leaving the reader behind like he has just missed the last bus. The last third of the book is just too rushed. I wanted to hear all the details of her later life, especially the period when she started to write. How and why did she start? What difficulties did she encounter? What facilitated her award winning path?
This book almost sounds like a love letter to her mother rather than a book about Lorna herself. She is adamant about her admiration of her, a woman who refused to be pitied and refused to be pitiful. Lorna's words to her mother as she lay dying are heart breaking: "you are my shining light" and then later, Lorna says of her Mum, "no one has ever loved me better". In some ways it is a love story.
I am not ready to criticize this memoir. To me, memoirs are very personal things. They are what the writer wants them to be. Maybe they are written for the writer herself and not necessarily for others--but the volume is provided to us if we want to read it. And, I was glad to have the opportunity.
Lorna Crozier explains how the geography of her home and her early family life in Swift Current Saskatchewan gave her an understanding of the world and shaped the person she became. She tells her story through the prism of a quote from Aristotle who believed there was something beyond cause and effect, some immoveable force he called "the first cause". So, it is through the framework of these "first causes" that she titles her chapters and shares her past. The elements of wind, dust, snow, light and grasslands have profound effects on those who live in areas where they predominate and Lorna tries to show readers how that happens.
Swift Current is a small town with one main street, two high schools and three beer parlors. Small town life has its own particular challenges, easy if you have money and more difficult if you don't. Everyone knows everyone else's business and secrets are hard to keep. This proved a challenge for Lorna's family who had little money and a big secret, her father’s drinking. For Lorna, the worse part was having to lie to keep the secret. It was their skeleton in the closet, their "mad child hidden in the attic". The shame of his drinking haunted his family although he was not violent and never abused them. It was her father’s drinking that ultimately drew Lorna closer to her mother.
The Croziers were not a prosperous family and Lorna's mother was one of the few women who worked to put food on the table. She collected tickets for the changing baskets at the community swimming pool, sold tickets for hockey games and worked in a law office for a dollar an hour. Her father Emerson had a spotty work history and was often out of work. He played cards, pool and games of chance and often won. He pitched winning softball, won curling championships, raced horses and sometimes worked in the oil patch.
The Croziers rented rather than owned their home and often had renters on the top floor to help with expenses. Life was always about making sure they had money for the necessities, but at one time they had a boat and they did own a car, one that Emerson was not able to drive because he was inebriated or had lost his license. The car and boat were purchases Emerson made, because he believed his paycheck was his to spend on whatever he wanted, whether it was at the Legion, the hotel bars, or the local store.
Most of the book revolves around Lorna’s early childhood. She started school later than her friends, skipping kindergarten because it required a fee and entered grade one not knowing the alphabet or how to read. She quickly made up that gap and later produced a poem that was recited to the class and to the school principal. That accomplishment gave her a sense of satisfaction and marked the small beginning of her writing career.
Her childhood was filled with the usual childhood games, great times spent with her grandmother, playing with her brother Barry's Pomeranian named Tiny and dodging the neighbourhood bully Larry. Her high school years were a time when she desperately tried to fit in, troubled that could not afford to take singing lessons like her friends and ashamed of the appearance of their home and yard. But her mother, who believed her children could do anything, encouraged Lorna and pushed her to apply for the lead role in the annual operetta, a role she won that year and the three that followed. Her mother was also a very practical woman and when Lorna's friend Lynda became pregnant at fifteen, told her daughter that if she ever did that, she would be out on her own.
At this point readers are two thirds of the way through the book and from there the years go by quickly. Her brother Barry leaves home, goes into the air force and then marries. Suddenly, Lorna is marrying a man she met at university. Then in the eighties, she becomes a writer in residence at a community college, leaves her husband and moves in with a man named Patrick. These events are all told in a rush and readers have little background to understand how it all happened.
The final parts of the book detail her parents decline and in particular the death of her mother with whom she was very close. Lorna is now in Vancouver and again chunks of time have just flown by.
Many of the passages in this memoir are interspersed with poetry/prose passages about the prairie landscape. Crozier’s language in these sections is rich and succinct, demonstrating clearly that she is a poet.
This memoir had a strong beginning detailing Crozier’s early childhood, but after graduation from high school, things take off like a rocket with the last third of the book very rushed. Readers who want to hear the details of her later life, especially the period when she started to write, will be disappointed as they never get to know what led her to writing, the difficulties she encountered and what facilitated her award-winning path.
The memoir almost feels like a love letter to her mother rather than a book about Lorna herself. She is open about her admiration of her, a woman who refused to be pitied. However, I am not ready to criticize this memoir as for me, they are very personal things, what the writer wants them to be. Some may be written for the writer and not necessarily for others--but the writer puts the volume in the public space if readers are interested to read it.
I, for one, was glad to have the opportunity.
In this small volume, Lorna Crozier produces a memoir only a poet could write. She tells us how the geography of her home and her early family life in Swift Current Saskatchewan gave her an understanding of the world and shaped the person she became.
She chooses to tell her story through the prism of a quote from Aristotle, who believed there was something beyond cause and effect, some immoveable force he called "the first cause". So it is through the prism of these "first causes" that she titles her chapters and shares her past. The elements of wind, dust, snow, light and grasslands have profound effects on those who live in areas where they predominate, and Lorna tries to show us how that happens.
Swift Current is a small town with one main street, two high schools and three beer parlors. Small town life has its own particular challenges. It is easy if you have money and more difficult if you don't. Everyone knows every one else's business and secrets are hard to keep. So this proved a challenge for Lorna's family. They had little money and they did have a secret, her Dad's drinking.
For Lorna, the worse part of that was the taboos around it, the burden to keep it secret and having to lie about it.
Most of the book revolves around her early childhood. She grows up with her older brother Barry who is good at sports and protects her from the school bullies. The Croziers are not a prosperous family and Lorna's mother is one of the few women who work to put food on the table. She collects tickets for the changing baskets at the community swimming pool, sells tickets for hockey games, and works in a law office for a dollar an hour. Lorna's father Emerson has a spotty work history and he is often out of work. The shame of his drinking haunts the whole family although he is not violent and never abuses them. It is their skeleton in the closet, their "mad child hidden in the attic". Emerson plays cards, pool and games of chance, and often wins. He pitches winning softball, wins curling championships and races horses. And sometimes he works in the oil patch. But it is her Dad's drinking that ultimately draws Lorna closer to her mother.
The Croziers rented rather than owned their home and usually had renters on the top floor to help with expenses. Life was always about making sure they had money for the necessities. But, they weren't so poor that they did not have a car, one that Emerson could not usually drive because he was inebriated or had lost his license. They also had a boat at one time. These purchases were the result of Emerson believing his paycheck was his alone to spend on whatever he wanted, whether it was at the Legion, the hotel bars, or the local store.
Lorna starts school later than her friends. She doesn't attend kindergarten which required payment of a fee, and thus she enters grade one not knowing the alphabet or able to read. She makes up that gap quickly though, and later produces a poem that is recited to the class as well as to the school principal. That event produces waves of self satisfaction and was the beginning of her writing career.
Her childhood is filled with the usual games of children, including great times spent with her grandmother, playing with her brother Barry's Pomeranian named Tiny, burying pet animals, and dodging the neighbourhood bully Larry. But these times were also marred by her shame of the look of their house and their yard. Lorna's high school years were predominated by a desperate longing to belong and fit in. Her fiends took singing lessons, something Lorna's parents could not afford to give her. Yet her mother, who always believed her children who could do anything, encouraged her and pushed her to apply for the lead role in the annual operetta, a role she won that year and the three that followed. But her mother was also a very practical woman, and when Lorna's friend Lynda becomes pregnant at fifteen, she tells her daughter that if she ever did that, she would be out on her own.
When Lorna leaves her childhood and teenage years behind we are two thirds of the way through the book and from there the years seem to go by "in chunks". Her brother Barry leaves home, goes into the air force and then is married. All of a sudden Lorna is getting married to a man she met at university. In the eighties, she becomes a writer in residence at a community college, but we have no idea how all this happens. And then suddenly she is leaving her husband and moving in with Patrick. How she met him or what her early married life is like, we never know.
The final parts of the book detail her parents decline and in particular the death of her mother with whom she was so close. The last pages of the book tell us how she met her mother after her mother's death. Lorna is now in Vancouver and again chunks of time have just flown by.
Many of the passages in this story are interspersed with poetry/prose passages about the prairie landscape. The language is incredibly beautiful. It is clear she is a poet. The language is rich and succinct.
My disappointment with the book lies in a couple of areas. First, I loved the beginning, the stories of her early childhood. But after graduation from high school things seem to take off like a rocket, leaving the reader behind like he has just missed the last bus. The last third of the book is just too rushed. I wanted to hear all the details of her later life, especially the period when she started to write. How and why did she start? What difficulties did she encounter? What facilitated her award winning path?
This book almost sounds like a love letter to her mother rather than a book about Lorna herself. She is adamant about her admiration of her, a woman who refused to be pitied and refused to be pitiful. Lorna's words to her mother as she lay dying are heart breaking: "you are my shining light" and then later, Lorna says of her Mum, "no one has ever loved me better". In some ways it is a love story.
I am not ready to criticize this memoir. To me, memoirs are very personal things. They are what the writer wants them to be. Maybe they are written for the writer herself and not necessarily for others--but the volume is provided to us if we want to read it. And, I was glad to have the opportunity.
November 10, 2017
This memoir by Lorna Crozier who is a Canadian poet and author and was raised in Swift Current, Saskatchewan had many similarities to my childhood in the 40's and 50's on a farm in North Dakota. It was very well written and I enjoyed it very much.
April 7, 2021
Wonderful read -- a beautifully written memoir in which the author highlights memorable aspects of her life growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, the good, the bad, and the ugly. She makes everything beautiful, however, with her poetic, evocative descriptions. A pleasure to read!
December 20, 2015
Lorna Crozier's writing is honest, filled with beauty and poetry. Her memoir pulled me in and wouldn't let me go.
February 1, 2019
Read for CRWR 397 (Setting)
It's interesting in that my teacher knows Crozier personally, which also makes me a little hesitant to say anything bad about this book. Neither poetry nor memoir is my forte so I'm not going to comment on if the book was "good" or "bad". For me personally, I'm not a setting-oriented person, and my attention to detail in my own writing is minuscule in comparison to this book, so my enjoyment wasn't very high, but that is no comment on quality of writing at all.
The "first cause" sections were definitely my favorite; Crozier's strength is in poetry and figurative language, making comparisons you can't possibly even comprehend without having the prairie background she does. But I have little previous exposure to the format of individual memories in their own chapters, plunked together by theme (setting) rather than any sort of linear plot, which wrecked my understanding and emotional connection to the story. Which is why I had to play devil's advocate in class in that I didn't find the end at all emotionally impactful. I admired her skill and her description, but I didn't feel it because I didn't feel her earlier in the work. I think it comes down more to me and what I'm used to; if I was more used to the genre/format, it might have been a better read for me.
It's interesting in that my teacher knows Crozier personally, which also makes me a little hesitant to say anything bad about this book. Neither poetry nor memoir is my forte so I'm not going to comment on if the book was "good" or "bad". For me personally, I'm not a setting-oriented person, and my attention to detail in my own writing is minuscule in comparison to this book, so my enjoyment wasn't very high, but that is no comment on quality of writing at all.
The "first cause" sections were definitely my favorite; Crozier's strength is in poetry and figurative language, making comparisons you can't possibly even comprehend without having the prairie background she does. But I have little previous exposure to the format of individual memories in their own chapters, plunked together by theme (setting) rather than any sort of linear plot, which wrecked my understanding and emotional connection to the story. Which is why I had to play devil's advocate in class in that I didn't find the end at all emotionally impactful. I admired her skill and her description, but I didn't feel it because I didn't feel her earlier in the work. I think it comes down more to me and what I'm used to; if I was more used to the genre/format, it might have been a better read for me.
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January 6, 2021This elegant little book was given to me as a birthday present by my high school friend who shares my prairie origins. Lorna Crozier is one Canada's most celebrated poets. Her poetic gifts uplift her prose in this depiction of her childhood in Swift Current Saskatchewan. She frames her memoir by lyrical passages both in the beginning and end of the memoir. The individual chapters could be standalone essays but are skillfully interwoven so they feel unified as one narrative. Crozier succeeds in conveying the wide expanse of living on the prairies sharing the longing, loneliness and sense of feeling trapped in the little world almost lost in the big world. Crozier's razor sharp observation of detail in her family life dominated by her father's alcoholism and the constraints of poverty is powerful and vivid. Her mother is her champion, always resourceful and uncomplaining in her stoicism. From within this household a poet was birthed. Sparse and intimate, this memoir illuminates a place, as well as the decade of the 1950's in Canada.
October 24, 2025
Cant remember where i found this one. It is about growing up in Swift Current in the 50s and 60s. Crozier's prose avoids hyperbole and dramatization that can be part of autobiographies. She writes about her life in an unsentimental way. Her childhood was blessed by a determined and hard working mother and a father who struggled with substance abuse. She captures the mixed emotions of childhood, joy with grief, anger that must be held in despite injustices, frustration at the limits of her family of origin.
Mixed into the narrative are short entries called first cause. These are poetic reflections on the plain realities that make up one's world. Ie, wind, sky, dust, gravel, grass and 4 pages on insects.
The lean and frugal realities of the farming life on the prairies shines through. My wife's family grew up in Moose Jaw and the stories here are often similar to the ones i have heard about the prairies in the 50's and 60's.
Mixed into the narrative are short entries called first cause. These are poetic reflections on the plain realities that make up one's world. Ie, wind, sky, dust, gravel, grass and 4 pages on insects.
The lean and frugal realities of the farming life on the prairies shines through. My wife's family grew up in Moose Jaw and the stories here are often similar to the ones i have heard about the prairies in the 50's and 60's.
March 24, 2018
3.5 stars
Lorna Crozier is a poet. She was born in 1948 and grew up in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This tells of her life, much of it during her childhood. Her family didn’t have a lot of money and her father was an alcoholic.
I liked this. I wasn’t sure at first, as there are short chapters that just seem descriptive, which I guess shows more of her poetic side, but those sections didn’t interest me nearly as much as her life stories. I grew up in Southern Sask, and my dad grew up in Swift Current, so it’s always fun to read about places you know. It’s a short book, and she did skip over a lot of stuff. Overall, though, I did enjoy the parts about her life and the familiar places.
Lorna Crozier is a poet. She was born in 1948 and grew up in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This tells of her life, much of it during her childhood. Her family didn’t have a lot of money and her father was an alcoholic.
I liked this. I wasn’t sure at first, as there are short chapters that just seem descriptive, which I guess shows more of her poetic side, but those sections didn’t interest me nearly as much as her life stories. I grew up in Southern Sask, and my dad grew up in Swift Current, so it’s always fun to read about places you know. It’s a short book, and she did skip over a lot of stuff. Overall, though, I did enjoy the parts about her life and the familiar places.
January 21, 2022
While sometimes stark, it is mostly stunningly beautiful. I found I could only read a little at a time - it is so very beautiful.
The following is from near the beginning:
The following is from near the beginning:
Here, light seems like another form of water, as clear but thinner, and it cannot be contained. [...] After an hour or two of walking, you are soaked in brightness. When you shake your head and shoulders, you see the spray. [...] It is too huge for dreams, too persistent for solitude. All day long it touches you with the smallest of its million watery wings. [1st cause: light]
May 20, 2022
This beautiful little memoir is simple and memorable. I loved the authors honesty and sense of balance in her feelings towards family members (eg. that love involves deep complex feelings that are not often healthy or even pleasant feeling), and her prose chapters on the essential elements to life. As someone born in the prairies (although somewhere not as deeply prairies as the author), I felt a nostalgic pull with this one. My only critique is that it was somewhat slow/not very engaging until the very end - where her grief writing hits you like a ton of bricks. I really enjoyed this!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2018
While pieces of this book were beautiful, a lot of it was a fairly middle-of-the-road memoir about growing up in a small Canadian town with an alcoholic father and strong, loving mother. Despite the title, there was not the connection to the landscape—other then a few short chapters and poems—that I had hoped for.
January 11, 2018
I resonated with this novel. I grew up in northern British Columbia on the prairies and so many of the moments clicked with my memories. Thank you so much. A very personal journey with the beauty of a poetic soul. Lorna Crozier is incredible!
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July 2, 2019"... Keep remembering," she said. "You don't get another chance."
The last chapter was absolutely brilliant, and among tender recollections are instances of the first cause, many, and these all are an act of the highest poetic sight.
My first read of Crozier's. Won't be my last.
The last chapter was absolutely brilliant, and among tender recollections are instances of the first cause, many, and these all are an act of the highest poetic sight.
My first read of Crozier's. Won't be my last.
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August 3, 2020A lovely, poetic narrative. Crozier gives us short vignettes to illustrate profound moments that shaped her life. Touching, beautifully written, thoughtful. A readable memoir that is powerful in its brevity.
June 11, 2025
I really enjoyed this Prairie Memoir, written by a woman who grew up not far from where I'm now living in Saskatchewan. I'm not from here, so I didn't relate to everything, but I learned a lot! The prose was really lovely as well.
May 16, 2017
Probably a solid 4 for writing chops, but story itself in many places hit too close to the bone. Stopped reading after the garter snake incident.
August 8, 2019
A touching lovely book about authentic small town life.
January 11, 2020
Beautiful. Perfect.
May 9, 2020
A rhapsodic memoir celebrating the beauty of her home landscape growing up in Saskatchewan, the author paints a portrait of an isolated family life with an alcoholic father and stoic loving mother.
August 25, 2020
Croziers poetic voice and writing make this an absolute wonder. Sweet, poignant, and full of prairie elements. Her journey through illness and death of her mother touched my soul. Amazing!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2020
Terrific! A genuine, real, relatable and honest piece. Everything is in harmony from the first paragraph that the words start the dance till the end, where you feel you don’t want the amazing show to end...a wonderfully written true life story and definitely an enjoyable read!
May 9, 2023
Enjoyed the stories of prairie childhood. found some of the style of the writing felt a bit choppy. Love the descriptions of landscape - both physical and of family relationships
June 23, 2024
enjoyed this! made me feel super connected to lorna through sharing a lot of childhood things. and just the way she writes about her mum made me cry, the ending is a beautiful exploration of grief.
April 22, 2025
A story about every small town. You don't have to be from the Prairies to recognize the characters and relate to some of the experiences.
July 18, 2017
I had a hard time getting into the book at times. Parts drew me and had me wanting more and other parts just had me wondering what am I reading. It is truly a fascinating way to present a moving story but overall an ok book for me. Glad I read it but not one to read again.
October 8, 2012
A memoir of growing up poor in a small Prairie town. The writing is highly evocative. Some of the chapters read more like poetry than prose. The chapter of the book ("My Mother for a Long Time") which deals with feelings about the death of a mother is particularly powerful. Crozier writes: "Who but my mother held those small pieces of my childhood? Where would they go when she was gone?" "I started screaming as the spears of water hit my scalp and broke over me. Mom, mom, mom, mom! A yowl rose from my gut, my bowels, my womb, raw as a birth cry but with no hope in it, a maddening howl, a roar, the water a wailing wall shattering around me. Unsyllabled, thoughtless, the cry rose from the oldest cells in my body. I hadn't known grief could be so primal, so crude."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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