On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood

by Richard Harrison

Nominee:
2017 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry

In his final years, Richard Harrison's father suffered from a form of dementia, but he died without ever forgetting the poems he had memorized as a student and had taught to Richard as a child. In 2013, the poet feared his father's ashes had been lost in the flood water that ravaged Alberta—a crisis that would become the inciting event and central theme of this collection. Combining elements of memoir, elegy, lyrical essay and personal correspondence with appreciations of literary works ranging from haiku to comic books, Richard Harrison has written a book of great intellectual depth that is as generous as it is enchanting.

Genres: Poetry, Canada, Adult

97 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2016

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book through the Goodreads Giveaways.
I am so pleased to have received this book. As a resident of southern Alberta who witnessed the effects of the 2013 flooding, Mr. Harrison has written a beautiful, haunting book of poetry that evokes many feelings.

[Brendan Linwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book at my favourite Calgary bookstore, Shelf Life Books. I visit every time I am in town, and have made something of a tradition of picking up works of local poetry.
Harrison's collection is a moving reflection on a son's relationship with his father, particularly that between an adult son and a father dealing with the trials and frustrations of aging and the loss of grace. Like so much Calgary poetry of the last 5 years, the floods play a central role in the narrative (see Monica Kidd's perfect "The Year of Our Beautiful Exile"); but present too are themes of masculinity, fatherhood, and loss. I devoured a first reading in one sitting, and I have no doubt I will revisit it many times.

[Dave Bensette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood’ is a book full of poems that will both seize your heart up with emotion or make you laugh out loud at Harrison’s smart and observational humour. On one page Harrison might write, with heartbreaking honesty and wisdom, about the transience of life and his memories of living through his father’s memory loss and eventual death. On another page he might write about the tiny arms of a T-Rex or the quirky nostalgia of slinky toys and comic books that he relives through his young son. ‘On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood’ is simply about the more normal aspects of the cycle of life that we all go (or will go) through but described from the heart of someone with a talent of capturing both the hilarity and sublimity of everyday life and tragedy. Richard Harrison will remind you of how even the most feared elements of life are inspiring and beautiful none-the-less.

[Scott Gamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harrison's poetry is accessible and enjoyable. His forms and style are varied and skillfully employed. The tapestry of life loosely woven around his father's terminal illness and death touch on so many rich experiences connected to all people. Harrison's voice in exploring those experiences is deliberate yet playful, focused yet vulnerable. In reading his own soul-stretching journey, you will likely expand as his words and thoughts tug at the hurts and joys and wonders of life and death.

His frequent use of other poems or lyrics as jumping off points or touchstones within his own poems is interesting. It brings a somewhat jarring awareness to the fact that you're reading a poem, but he somehow quickly draws you back into the work, exploring both the poem as a piece of literature to be crafted and examined, but also as life and experience to be lived and explored.

I would recommend this book to poetry-lovers and future/uninitiated poetry lovers.

[Morgan Coffey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the title that drew me to this collection - that and the GG award.
The poetry equally matched the title in the sense that it was a heartbreaking and (ironic? maybe?) elegy. Big poetry fan. Not always great at deconstructing. 4 stars as oppose to 5, solely because I feel as though Harrison was digging where he didn't need to - searching for meaning where there wasn't. Yes, that is expected when conquering grief or...writing poetry, but this came up a few time well reading so I believe it's worth mentioning. Great collection. Recommended.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I did quite love individual poems within this collection (A Poem in the Arms of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Gone, A Home on Al-Mutanabbi Street, Maps and Writing Paper), I think this suffered from a mismatch in my expectations versus what the collection was actually about.

Given the line from "Gone" on the cover, that 'characters in a novel can escape everything / except their story, I think I was expecting the rest of this collection to be something different.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated that this book could be about his father's decline and death and also about everything else, about war, about poetry, about bees. I think what will stay with me will be his last poem, "Haiku". It is about trying to write a haiku about a bee he sees sleeping in a flower, but then he realizes that the poem is about his wife's hand that he has forgotten was holding his the whole time.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Harrison’s wise and approachable poetry collection On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood has the satisfying cohesiveness of linked short stories.

Read my complete review here: http://bookgagabooks.ca/2018/08/07/on...

[Emily Hean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to meet Harrison in person at a reading, and I was impressed then and now, having read the entire book. Harrison weaves words together in a way that just resonates with that little something that makes me, me.

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grief-filled yet buoyant, sometimes humorous poetry on parental loss.