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The Red Element
"In her stunning new volume of poems, The Red Element, Catherine Graham distills the whirling ambiguities of memories into gorgeous, mysterious single images, making the short poem triumph again on the Canadian literary landscape. With the dense, new energy of The Red Element, where all the poems form a bravura lyrical sequence, Graham proves herself as one of Canada's premier younger poets." Molly Peacock
- GenresPoetry
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Catherine Graham
35 books24 followersCatherine Graham, writer, educator and creativity consultant, was born in Hamilton, Ontario. She holds a Masters' degree in creative writing from Lancaster University in England. Her poems have been anthologized internationally, published on CBC's Sounds Like Canada website, broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster and she is included in The White Page / An Bhileog Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets. After living for years in Northern Ireland, she now lives in Toronto, Ontario. In addition to teaching Elements of Poetry at Sheridan College, Catherine teaches creative writing at McMaster University and the University of Toronto where she was nominated for an Excellence In Teaching Award.
(from http://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/...)
(from http://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/...)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 26, 2022
We sip without cups, pretending to swallow.
White calves surround us like a grove of birch.
We mime the O of the other's moist mouth,
watch the air bubbles fly up to the air.
* * *
In my aunt's high-rise kitchen,
a turkey cools under a dish towel,
and peas, having boiled over,
simmer on the red element.
I'm looking out at the red line, the fall.
"My God," she says. "You look like Rusty."
Hand on my hip, neck bent gently,
my dead mother, standing there, about to light up.
* * *
Your voice on a stage
of white daffodils.
You raise your arms, thin white ladders,
your fingers extend to still life.
Years later you appear,
here, in my dreams.
You look well as we chat briefly,
until your arms line up.
* * *
Tell me, will you ever really
predict the ripple of water?
Whether it rides staglike
in a white antler roar
or lies quiet, a doe dreaming blue.
Face it, you will never know
if it's the stillness that moves you
or the moving that stills you.
* * *
I have been watching a red-tailed hawk circling.
Two chipping sparrows at him. They fist their wings.
They want the eater out. They cast their lines
of invisible net, the sky wired with anger.
White calves surround us like a grove of birch.
We mime the O of the other's moist mouth,
watch the air bubbles fly up to the air.
- The Underwater Tea Party, pg. 14
* * *
In my aunt's high-rise kitchen,
a turkey cools under a dish towel,
and peas, having boiled over,
simmer on the red element.
I'm looking out at the red line, the fall.
"My God," she says. "You look like Rusty."
Hand on my hip, neck bent gently,
my dead mother, standing there, about to light up.
- The Red Element, for Miranda Hill, pg. 21
* * *
Your voice on a stage
of white daffodils.
You raise your arms, thin white ladders,
your fingers extend to still life.
Years later you appear,
here, in my dreams.
You look well as we chat briefly,
until your arms line up.
- Arms like Ladders, in memory of Malca Litovitz, pg. 32
* * *
Tell me, will you ever really
predict the ripple of water?
Whether it rides staglike
in a white antler roar
or lies quiet, a doe dreaming blue.
Face it, you will never know
if it's the stillness that moves you
or the moving that stills you.
- To the Weatherman, pg. 48
* * *
I have been watching a red-tailed hawk circling.
Two chipping sparrows at him. They fist their wings.
They want the eater out. They cast their lines
of invisible net, the sky wired with anger.
- Sky, pg. 52
September 9, 2010
It seems that every five years we are treated to another poetic cannon blast by Catherine Graham. Having carved out her particular niche on the CanLit map with her last two offerings, The Watch and Pupa, The Red Element is another groundbreaking delight. One of Graham's strengths is in her delivery of the short poem, shoehorning a constellatory array of notions into an elegant economy of words. The whimsy of her subject is frequently set out with aromatic grace, and yet nested even within the most innocent and innocuous of lines is just a hint of cheek. A few poems are quietly mournful, and despite the slimness of the volume, much of it packs a meaningful punch.
One of the prevailing aspects of Graham's poetry is the vivid and visceral approach she employs in the careful selection of her adjectives. Unlikely objects – or even fleeting sentiments, emotions, and unlikely attributes – seem to hum, coo, waddle, and billow. With such colourful description, she lends to her poetry a strong sense of texture that grants presence to the subject. However, such descriptive dependance can frequently become overbearing, but Graham's seasoned tooling and succinctness with the poetic line seems to know when to pull back. Her range of subjects always emerge like a herald of the ephemeral or esoteric, but they are patiently phrased in such a way was to underscore the universality of various experiences – one of the few hard-earned skills that truly allows good poetry to resonate and transcend its placement in space and time.
One of the prevailing aspects of Graham's poetry is the vivid and visceral approach she employs in the careful selection of her adjectives. Unlikely objects – or even fleeting sentiments, emotions, and unlikely attributes – seem to hum, coo, waddle, and billow. With such colourful description, she lends to her poetry a strong sense of texture that grants presence to the subject. However, such descriptive dependance can frequently become overbearing, but Graham's seasoned tooling and succinctness with the poetic line seems to know when to pull back. Her range of subjects always emerge like a herald of the ephemeral or esoteric, but they are patiently phrased in such a way was to underscore the universality of various experiences – one of the few hard-earned skills that truly allows good poetry to resonate and transcend its placement in space and time.
March 20, 2015
Catherine has a way of using powerful imagery to express depth and human struggle. I view poetry as purely visceral, like painting. These carry so many levels of experience in what are mostly very brief poems. The Red Element is a beautiful collection that is cohesive and like little shards placed together, it seems to create a narrative. I have read all of Catherine's poetry in book form.The Watch, Pupa, this book and Winterkill seem to be pieces of a larger picture. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews