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A stone diary
The author of three books of poetry published by small presses, Vancouver-born Pat Lowther, who was murdered in September 1975, achieved in A Stone Diary, her last collection, a range and assurance that prompted Robert Fulford to write: 'It was especially sad about her death that she was on the edge of whatever fame and success Canadian poetry has to offer.' A Stone Diary, said Fulford, suggests that she was 'superbly prepared to make this move to a more central place in current Canadian literature. The work in the manuscript is mature, sophisticated, controlled.'
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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January 18, 2022
A STONE DIARY was submitted by the poet to the Oxford University Press shortly before her murder. It is considered by many to be the pinnacle of a poetic career that was tragically cut short. Her life, her death, and her poetry have influence many. Notably, Carol Shields was inspired by the tragic details of her murder to write Swann: A Mystery. In fact, she borrowed the title of this collection for her novel, The Stone Diaries.
Like Sylvia Plath, the tragedy of Lowther's death is that it has overshadowed the poet's body of work. Indeed, most anyone who knows either of the poets can tell you how they perished, but few could recite from memory any of their poems.
The description on the back cover includes mention of the poet's murder, making it difficult to read the collection without this in mind. In light of the poet's murder, the reader may find the poems about death disturbing. One poem in particular, "The Diggers", addresses the care given to the dead as opposed to the living, as if the poet knew that she would achieve greater success in death...
The diggers
with very gentle fingers
lift up the bones of a woman;
tenderly they take off
her stockings of earth;
they have not such love
for the living
who are not finished
or predicted.
- The Diggers (pg. 90)
Throughout the collection, the poet frequently makes reference to stones. The most compelling of these references - aesthetically, and as it relates to the title of the collection - are the references that attribute human characteristics to stones. The poet explores love throughout the collection, but nowhere is her exploration of love as striking as it is related to stones...
By the turn of the week
I was madly in love
with stone. Do you know
how beautiful it is
to embrace stone
to curve all your body
against its surfaces?
- A Stone Diary (pg. 9)
Do you know you can
talk to trees
do you know
stones are alive
do you know birds
fish water a song
for every position of the sun
- Leonard George and, Later, a Rock Band (pg. 27)
The poet may not have been conspicuously involved with any counter-culture movement or political activism of the time, but, like many poets of the 60s and 70s, some of her poems address political issues...
Outside the U.S. consulate
in freezing wind
the street theatre group
arranges space within
the crowd
The girl who represents
the Vietnamese people
wears a black body
stocking and a mask
I thought at first
patronizing
but as the the mime unfolds
its over-human contours
and its broken eyes
immovable
become a perfect image
for us all
- The Earth Sings Mi-Fa-Mi (pg. 32)
One political poem in particular, "Chacabuco, the Pit", is comparable to the politically charged poetry of Denise Levertov...
- Chacabuco, the Pit (pg. 16)
'"It became necessary
to destroy the town to save it,"
a United States major said today.
He was talking about the decision
by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town
regardless of civilian casualities,
to rout the Vietcong.'
O language, mother of thought,
are you rejecting us as we reject you?
- Denise Levertov, "An Interim" (from Relearning the Alphabet)
On a side note, the political climate of Chile in the 1970s seems to have inspired a number of Canadian poets. Aside from Pat Lowther, I'm reminded of Miriam Waddington, in particular her poem "How I Spent the Year Listening to the Ten O'Clock News"...
Of course
the interests of
Canadian citizens
(read corporations)
must be protected
at any cost no
matter how many
good men are
shot like dogs
in the streets
of Chile or
how many poets
die of broken
heart.
- Miriam Waddington, "How I Spent the Year Listening to the Ten O'Clock News" (from The Price of Gold)
The "lighter" poems in the collection - that is, poems that deal with lighter subject matter; that is, poems that deal with subject matter other than political persecution, love, death, etc... - often demonstrate the poet's sense of humour; and, in so doing, demonstrate the poet's versatility...
Edgar Allen Poe &
Disney combined
couldn't have done it
better: the tall black house
the dungeon
the secret book
Later, the pale determined
men with dogs.
I try to cry out:
I'm harmless!
but the words can't
get through my fangs.
- Nightmare (pg. 15)
it's not that
i'm getting smaller
(i thought so at first)
but that the continent's
expanding, stretching
like silly putty
or like a movie
seen in a dream
- Greetings from the Incredible Shrinking Woman (pg. 50)
The poet often writes what could be described as "cycles" or "sequences" of poems - that is, poems grouped by theme, narrative, etc... - such as the seven poems of "Chacabuco, the Pit"; the three poems of "Notes from Furry Creek"; the three poems of "Coast Range"; the three poems of "Birthdays"; the five "Letters to Pablo [Neruda]"; the seven poems of "City Slide"; the four poems of "Intersection"; the seven poems of "Hotline to the Gulf"; the three poems of "The Dig"...
For I tell you the earth
itself is a mystery
which we penetrate constantly
and our people a holy mystery
beyond refusal
- Chacabuco, the Pit (pg. 26)
The dam foot
is a pit
for the royal animals
quiet and dangerous
in the stare
of sun and water
- Notes from Furry Creek, 2 (pg. 30)
The land is what's left
after the failure
of every kind of metaphor.
- Coast Range (pg. 36)
You say you were born
a time and place
foreign to me;
i can't imagine
where you come from
though you wear your past
like articulated flesh,
a body learned
and exercised
- Birthdays, 1 (pg. 48)
I imagine you
a plateau city
spangled with frost,
a blue electric wind
before nightfall
that touches and takes
the breath away
- Last Letter to Pablo (pg. 56)
Love is an intersection
where I have chosen
unwittingly to die
- City Slide, 6 (pg. 72)
Write to me, darling
from the other world.
send me olives.
- Hotline to the Gulf, 2 (pg. 81)
Speak to me
for Gods sake
There are worse things
than death
though you and I
are not likely
to experience
any of them
- Hotline to the Gulf, 5 (pg. 84)
Even where traffic passes
the ancient world has exposed
a root, large and impervious,
humped like a dragon
among the city's conduits.
Look, they say,
who would have thought
the thing so tough,
so secretive?
- The Dig (pg. 89)
One of my favourite passages...
- Slugs (pg. 45)
Like Sylvia Plath, the tragedy of Lowther's death is that it has overshadowed the poet's body of work. Indeed, most anyone who knows either of the poets can tell you how they perished, but few could recite from memory any of their poems.
The description on the back cover includes mention of the poet's murder, making it difficult to read the collection without this in mind. In light of the poet's murder, the reader may find the poems about death disturbing. One poem in particular, "The Diggers", addresses the care given to the dead as opposed to the living, as if the poet knew that she would achieve greater success in death...
The diggers
with very gentle fingers
lift up the bones of a woman;
tenderly they take off
her stockings of earth;
they have not such love
for the living
who are not finished
or predicted.
- The Diggers (pg. 90)
Throughout the collection, the poet frequently makes reference to stones. The most compelling of these references - aesthetically, and as it relates to the title of the collection - are the references that attribute human characteristics to stones. The poet explores love throughout the collection, but nowhere is her exploration of love as striking as it is related to stones...
By the turn of the week
I was madly in love
with stone. Do you know
how beautiful it is
to embrace stone
to curve all your body
against its surfaces?
- A Stone Diary (pg. 9)
Do you know you can
talk to trees
do you know
stones are alive
do you know birds
fish water a song
for every position of the sun
- Leonard George and, Later, a Rock Band (pg. 27)
The poet may not have been conspicuously involved with any counter-culture movement or political activism of the time, but, like many poets of the 60s and 70s, some of her poems address political issues...
Outside the U.S. consulate
in freezing wind
the street theatre group
arranges space within
the crowd
The girl who represents
the Vietnamese people
wears a black body
stocking and a mask
I thought at first
patronizing
but as the the mime unfolds
its over-human contours
and its broken eyes
immovable
become a perfect image
for us all
- The Earth Sings Mi-Fa-Mi (pg. 32)
One political poem in particular, "Chacabuco, the Pit", is comparable to the politically charged poetry of Denise Levertov...
EVERYTHING SHOULD BE DONE
QUIETLY AND EFFECTIVELY TO INSURE
THAT ALLENDE DOES NOT LAST THE NEXT
CRUCIAL SIX MONTHS.
- from 18-point plan submitted by International
Telegraph and Telephone Co. to the White House, USA
CONTACT TRUSTWORTHY SOURCES
WITHIN THE CHILEAN ARMED FORCES.
- from Point 7, above.
I shall speak to the Lord of Heaven
where he sits asleep.
- from an ancient Mayan prayer.
- Chacabuco, the Pit (pg. 16)
'"It became necessary
to destroy the town to save it,"
a United States major said today.
He was talking about the decision
by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town
regardless of civilian casualities,
to rout the Vietcong.'
O language, mother of thought,
are you rejecting us as we reject you?
- Denise Levertov, "An Interim" (from Relearning the Alphabet)
On a side note, the political climate of Chile in the 1970s seems to have inspired a number of Canadian poets. Aside from Pat Lowther, I'm reminded of Miriam Waddington, in particular her poem "How I Spent the Year Listening to the Ten O'Clock News"...
Of course
the interests of
Canadian citizens
(read corporations)
must be protected
at any cost no
matter how many
good men are
shot like dogs
in the streets
of Chile or
how many poets
die of broken
heart.
- Miriam Waddington, "How I Spent the Year Listening to the Ten O'Clock News" (from The Price of Gold)
The "lighter" poems in the collection - that is, poems that deal with lighter subject matter; that is, poems that deal with subject matter other than political persecution, love, death, etc... - often demonstrate the poet's sense of humour; and, in so doing, demonstrate the poet's versatility...
Edgar Allen Poe &
Disney combined
couldn't have done it
better: the tall black house
the dungeon
the secret book
Later, the pale determined
men with dogs.
I try to cry out:
I'm harmless!
but the words can't
get through my fangs.
- Nightmare (pg. 15)
it's not that
i'm getting smaller
(i thought so at first)
but that the continent's
expanding, stretching
like silly putty
or like a movie
seen in a dream
- Greetings from the Incredible Shrinking Woman (pg. 50)
The poet often writes what could be described as "cycles" or "sequences" of poems - that is, poems grouped by theme, narrative, etc... - such as the seven poems of "Chacabuco, the Pit"; the three poems of "Notes from Furry Creek"; the three poems of "Coast Range"; the three poems of "Birthdays"; the five "Letters to Pablo [Neruda]"; the seven poems of "City Slide"; the four poems of "Intersection"; the seven poems of "Hotline to the Gulf"; the three poems of "The Dig"...
For I tell you the earth
itself is a mystery
which we penetrate constantly
and our people a holy mystery
beyond refusal
- Chacabuco, the Pit (pg. 26)
The dam foot
is a pit
for the royal animals
quiet and dangerous
in the stare
of sun and water
- Notes from Furry Creek, 2 (pg. 30)
The land is what's left
after the failure
of every kind of metaphor.
- Coast Range (pg. 36)
You say you were born
a time and place
foreign to me;
i can't imagine
where you come from
though you wear your past
like articulated flesh,
a body learned
and exercised
- Birthdays, 1 (pg. 48)
I imagine you
a plateau city
spangled with frost,
a blue electric wind
before nightfall
that touches and takes
the breath away
- Last Letter to Pablo (pg. 56)
Love is an intersection
where I have chosen
unwittingly to die
- City Slide, 6 (pg. 72)
Write to me, darling
from the other world.
send me olives.
- Hotline to the Gulf, 2 (pg. 81)
Speak to me
for Gods sake
There are worse things
than death
though you and I
are not likely
to experience
any of them
- Hotline to the Gulf, 5 (pg. 84)
Even where traffic passes
the ancient world has exposed
a root, large and impervious,
humped like a dragon
among the city's conduits.
Look, they say,
who would have thought
the thing so tough,
so secretive?
- The Dig (pg. 89)
One of my favourite passages...
they are twined
together
in a perfect spiral
flowing
around
each other
spinning
gently
with their motions
Imagine
making love like that
- Slugs (pg. 45)
February 10, 2010
Sometimes, we get so caught up in reading a particular genre or style that we forget about the others. Rediscovering them is a joy - last year, Shakespeare's Landlord made me remember why I liked reading mysteries. This year, A Stone Diary made me remember why I enjoy poetry. An evocative image, a clever phrase, a sentence that makes you stop dead and think, "Yes, that's it exactly." It's introspection that you want to go into the other room and share.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews