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Killarnoe: Poems
With its razzle-dazzle wordplay and kaleidoscope of subjects, Sonnet L’Abbé’s second collection of poems is a tour-de-force. L’Abbé invents her own unique poetics, coupling a glittering variety of patterns with tumbling rhythms and rhymes. And with this refreshed language, she reconsiders all the rules for twenty-first-century life. The poems work like a whirlwind, ranging from the intimacy of infancy to the shock of whole civilizations razed by war, and are infused with a political undertone that reveals a child’s emerging understanding of identity, of specific citizenship, of bodies physical and psychological, of language, imagination, and dream. Whether funny or funky, candid or subtle, amused and ironic or stunned in fright, the poems are guided by a fierce intelligence that never oversimplifies the world. Killarnoe, the poet tells us, “is a place I invented right now. I just built it from my head.” And in its reconsideration of what it means to be, Killarnoe is fascinating, charged, and inspired.
- GenresPoetry
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2007
About the author
Sonnet L'Abbé
7 books20 followersSonnet L'Abbé is a Canadian poet and critic.
As a poet, L'Abbé writes about national identity, race, gender and language. She has been shortlisted for the 2010 CBC Literary Award for poetry and has won the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for most promising writer under 35.
As a critic, she has been a regular reviewer of fiction and poetry for The Globe and Mail and has written scholarly articles on Canadian contemporary poetry. In, 2013 she was the Artist-In-Motion for 2017 Starts Now!, a series of talks that joined Canadians across the country in a conversation about how to celebrate the Canadian sesquicentennial.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, L'Abbé has a PhD in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, a Master's degree in English literature from the University of Guelph and a BFA in film and video from York University. She has been a script reader and has taught English at universities in South Korea and as well as teaching Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. She has also worked as an assistant poetry editor at Canadian Literature, and is an occasional contributor to CBC Radio One and the National Post. She currently teaches creative writing at UBC's Okanagan campus.
Her work has appeared in a number of literary journals and several anthologies including Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia, The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2009, The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010, Open Field: 30 Contemporary Canadian Poets, and Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Woman's Poetry.
As a poet, L'Abbé writes about national identity, race, gender and language. She has been shortlisted for the 2010 CBC Literary Award for poetry and has won the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for most promising writer under 35.
As a critic, she has been a regular reviewer of fiction and poetry for The Globe and Mail and has written scholarly articles on Canadian contemporary poetry. In, 2013 she was the Artist-In-Motion for 2017 Starts Now!, a series of talks that joined Canadians across the country in a conversation about how to celebrate the Canadian sesquicentennial.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, L'Abbé has a PhD in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, a Master's degree in English literature from the University of Guelph and a BFA in film and video from York University. She has been a script reader and has taught English at universities in South Korea and as well as teaching Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. She has also worked as an assistant poetry editor at Canadian Literature, and is an occasional contributor to CBC Radio One and the National Post. She currently teaches creative writing at UBC's Okanagan campus.
Her work has appeared in a number of literary journals and several anthologies including Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia, The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2009, The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010, Open Field: 30 Contemporary Canadian Poets, and Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Woman's Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 29, 2022
Simply brilliant. Almost every poem in this collection is an observation of and statement on sound.
Across the collection, L'Abbé creates a global narrative. Killarnoe's discrete sections alternate in examining inner and outer worlds: conscious, unconscious, political, natal, female, animal.
But even the gravest subjects are not safe from L'Abbé's charm; her humour and acute ear inform and stylize each poem. They are delightful, funny, informative.
Most rewarding is the last section, Amniotic, which builds up to the title poem, Killarnoe—itself a contemplation on linguistics, violence, contradiction, and resolution.
What a treat!
Across the collection, L'Abbé creates a global narrative. Killarnoe's discrete sections alternate in examining inner and outer worlds: conscious, unconscious, political, natal, female, animal.
But even the gravest subjects are not safe from L'Abbé's charm; her humour and acute ear inform and stylize each poem. They are delightful, funny, informative.
Most rewarding is the last section, Amniotic, which builds up to the title poem, Killarnoe—itself a contemplation on linguistics, violence, contradiction, and resolution.
What a treat!
January 29, 2022
Ma, ma, ma.
Raw formed emanation.
Mama mimesis?
Yes, mom imitation.
You am, gummy mammal.
Mammary yum?
Aureolar ohm.
Mmm hmm, little one.
* * *
La, la, la.
Don't listen, hon.
Lullaby lulls.
La, la, la
little one.
Lullaby unswerves.
La, la, la
baby.
Lullaby cusps.
La, la, la,
my love.
Lullaby realiiiiiiiiiiiiigns.
* * *
do zebras
have solid parents
a black stallion
a white mare
are they black
horses with
white stripes
or white
horses with
black bars
if you see them
in cages
at just the right
prison suits
does chocolate milk
come from
brown cows
my sister and I
were young
and thought
along those lines
* * *
Alpha male, Zahra.
Zeta female, Zahra?
Nine eleven I notice mom's name is Zalena.
I notice my cuzzins, Zaibun and Farzeen.
A to Z, said my uncle Asad.
Yes, Adam, said Muhammad.
The mountain comes. Zero sum.
Abu Ghraib. Arar.
Gaza, Zahra. Bloody gauze.
Your gaze on a military strip.
* * *
Red planet, fire star.
Below the shoulder of the moon,
smaller than you are.
Old light, still moves.
Red sheep of the family,
what does your water prove?
Orange-cheeked war boy.
Dust storms. Your shores,
where our horses souls are.
Raw formed emanation.
Mama mimesis?
Yes, mom imitation.
You am, gummy mammal.
Mammary yum?
Aureolar ohm.
Mmm hmm, little one.
- Ma, pg. 11
* * *
La, la, la.
Don't listen, hon.
Lullaby lulls.
La, la, la
little one.
Lullaby unswerves.
La, la, la
baby.
Lullaby cusps.
La, la, la,
my love.
Lullaby realiiiiiiiiiiiiigns.
- La, pg. 26
* * *
do zebras
have solid parents
a black stallion
a white mare
are they black
horses with
white stripes
or white
horses with
black bars
if you see them
in cages
at just the right
prison suits
does chocolate milk
come from
brown cows
my sister and I
were young
and thought
along those lines
- Zebras, pg. 31
* * *
Alpha male, Zahra.
Zeta female, Zahra?
Nine eleven I notice mom's name is Zalena.
I notice my cuzzins, Zaibun and Farzeen.
A to Z, said my uncle Asad.
Yes, Adam, said Muhammad.
The mountain comes. Zero sum.
Abu Ghraib. Arar.
Gaza, Zahra. Bloody gauze.
Your gaze on a military strip.
- Zah, pg. 47
* * *
Red planet, fire star.
Below the shoulder of the moon,
smaller than you are.
Old light, still moves.
Red sheep of the family,
what does your water prove?
Orange-cheeked war boy.
Dust storms. Your shores,
where our horses souls are.
- Mars, pg. 89
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews