Always Now

by Margaret Avison

Always Now, Collected Poems of Margaret Avison , encompasses in three volumes all of the published books, from Winter Sun (1960) to Concrete and Wild Carrot (2002), and is framed by a gathering of uncollected and new poems respectively. When complete, Always Now will present all of the poems, up to 2002, that Margaret Avison wishes to preserve. Volume One extends from the uncollected poems to Avison's translations of Hungarian poems, and includes Winter Sun and The Dumbfounding . Besides the uncollected surprises, two of them dating to high school days and first published in Hermes , Toronto's Humberside Collegiate literary magazine, there are the loved and familiar early poems, just as fresh now as they were then, from which certain wonderful lines still jump `Nobody stuffs the world in at your eyes./ The optic heart must venture'; `In the mathematics of God/ there are percentages beyond one hundred.' Margaret Avison's poems have warmed the hearts and enlarged the thinking of two generations of Canadian readers.

Genres: Poetry

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2003

Reviews

[C.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I'm not a fan of ALL the poems in the book there are some poems in here THAT I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT! And for that this book must receive 5 stars! When you find a book of poems with poems in it that you know you will return to over and over for the rest of your life, THAT BOOK gets 5 stars!

Cid Corman introduced me to Avison's work back when I was corresponding with him in the 90s. She appeared in his anthology THE GIST OF ORIGIN, an indispensable anthology which collects much of the highlights of his celebrated magazine ORIGIN. Avison was one of those poets in the anthology that made me want to read more, EVERYTHING!

This is a poem that I think is MARVELOUS:
-------------


Hot June


People are pink-cheeked only
long enough to
ferret out what if we were wan and wiser we
would let
be.

Give us the word and we worry
it out of its soil and run
off with it
(IN-FORM) between our teeth
and have at it and set up a
branch office to
do it for
people.

And O the zeal of thy cheek,
the tired plumes trailing
home!

Dust composes its late sunlight petals, ribbands, metals,
shorelessness.

-------------


Avison is full of the unexpected, which I LOVE!
CAConrad
http://CAConrad.blogspot.com

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will be honest, at least half of these poems are obscure to me this first time around. I am a quarter of the way through a second time, and am making slightly more sense of some of them...the individual imagery and sound of the lines is beautiful and/or expressive even when I don't know what it means all put together, haha. I suppose I would describe this as understated poetry, by and large, that rewards reflection and sometimes research (Mantegna? Agnes Cleves??).

I will give the whole thing another go over and see how it settles. And I want to read Volume Two, supposing the library has it and perhaps even if it doesn't.

[Theresa Leone Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually finished this lovely collection of poetry days ago but I kept going back and rereading my favorites. Canadian poet Margaret Avison is a gifted writer and while not every poem spoke to me, so many did. HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend!