Giving back diamonds

by Marilyn Bowering

Giving Back Diamonds:

“She[Bowering] writes with a kind of absolute pitch, her use of words spare, accurate, evocative…one has the sense not only of walking in a fascinating mind but also of perceiving through a subtle and highly tuned sensibility. The diction is unerring; the tone is always appropriate; the poise is so assured that one longs for and welcomes the occasional awkwardness the necessary imperfection.”

Canadian Literature, George Woodcock
*
“This is a book of humour and tragedy, lyricism and anger, memory and mythology. Bowering manages a clarity of vision with a lushness of language rarely seen in such a successful combination….It is quite a feat to be witty and acknowledge the sad realities of life all at once. This is book to be read over and over, and an achievement that will certainly place Marilyn Bowering in the top ranks of poets in this country.”

Writer’s Quarterly, Carolyn Smart
*
“Marilyn Bowering’s fifth book is her best so far, which means that it is astonishing in its lyrical strength, its deftly controlled symbolism, and its freshness of vision and clearly places Bowering as one of the most significant of our…poets.”

Malahat Review

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

MARILYN BOWERING’s first novel, To All Appearances A Lady, was a New York Times Notable Book. Her second novel, Visible Worlds, was short-listed for the prestigious Orange Prize, nominated for the Dublin IMPAC Prize, and awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Visible Worlds was praised by The Independent as “a tour de force … a wonderful piece of storytelling” and by The New York Times Book Review as “a vast, sprawling feast of a book.” Her novel What it Takes to Be Human was praised by The Globe and Mail as “a great novel… [Bowering] does not seek moments to be brilliant: those moments just arrive.” A new novel, The Unfinished World, was published in late 2025. Bill Gaston, author of Juliet Was a Surprise and The World, called The Unfinished World "a beautiful, insightful novel that performs a remarkable trick with history, time, and memory, a brilliant interweaving that is both teasingly cerebral as well as richly heartfelt.”

More Richly in Earth, part memoir and part literary investigation of a 17th century female Scottish Gaelic bard, was published by McGill Queen’s Press in 2024 and was long-listed for the Saltire Prize. The Scottish Gaelic writer Maoilios Caimbeul called it "a major work."

Marilyn Bowering is also an award-winning poet and librettist. Jan Zwicky says of Bowering, Her brilliant imagistic gift is always offered in service to the mystery of insight, the other invisible worlds gathered close in this one. Bowering’s poetry includes Human Bodies: Collected Poems 1987-1999, Green, an interplay of form and conversations and Soul Mouth, a book of story and memoir poems. With Threshold (photographs by Xan Shian), Marilyn Bowering extends the conversation to an encounter with a 17th century female Scottish Gaelic bard. Of What Is Long Past Occurs in Full Light (illustrations by Ken Laidlaw), Jan Zwicky comments, Despite her unflinching acknowledgement of the horrors humans visit on themselves and others, her vision is grounded in the subtle integrity of love. A new book of poetry, Frayed Linens, will be published in November 2025.

Marilyn Bowering has received many poetry prizes including the Ruth and David Lampe Award, the Gwen MacEwen Poetry prize, the Pat Lowther Prize, the Dorothy Livesay Prize, several National Magazine Awards, two nominations for the Governor General’s award, and shortlisting for the Prix Italia and the Sony Award. An opera, Marilyn Forever (composer Gavin Bryars), has received production premieres (2013-2022) in Victoria, BC; Long Beach, Ca.; Adelaide, Australia; Vienna, Austria; Oxford and Glasgow, UK; and Hagen and Saarbrücken, Germany. Bowering’s work has been translated into a number of languages including Spanish, Finnish, German, Romanian, Russian, and Punjabi.
Marilyn Bowering was born in Winnipeg and grew up in Victoria, BC. She has lived in various parts of Canada and in Greece, Scotland and Spain and now makes her home on Vancouver Island.

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's one:
I love you forever,

and another:
there's no one like you,

and another:
I'd do anything for you,

and the forth:
I want you just as your are,

and the fifth:
goodbye forever, goodbye;

and you don't,
and though there isn't
and you don't,

no you don't,
you don't.

I love you forever
there's no one like you
I'd do anything for you
I want you just as you are
goodbye forever, goodbye

- Giving Back Diamonds, pg. 15

* * *

It is the unreachable place
in you at fault,

and you say yes it is sometimes,

and I say about sadness
that a stranger does not satisfy -
I reject his imitation of you.

And you say believe
in the reality behind the image
and the realities will touch:

I feel nothing but cold.

And you say you will protect me
from the stranger in you:

but it is wise
to allow him near?

We are a landscape
of life events,

my memories are half-creatures
of floods and dryness;

my small tributary is of no consequence
without you.

I imagine us continuing,
making a deep channel of sadness.
We will leave our mark on the countryside,

bu when we merge with the sea
will our constancy be a virtue,
and being joined,
a form of deliverance?

I ask these questions
as if wisdom takes sides.

- Life Events, pg. 24-25

* * *

The swan on blue river
passes green forest

and the farmyard
the stricken tractors
the wheatfields
white with chaff

Sheep and cattle
drink from the river

Winter is not yet done with us

- The Swan on the River of Death, after Sibelius, pg. 34

* * *

I am listening,
the house is expectant,
chicken cooking, the flowers
at cue:

how small my hands have become
since those who need me are distant.

Is it my lamb on the staircase - ?
- No,
only the knock
of a vessel sailing.

It is a good world
despite the prince murderer
sharing secrets
as I know my mind and its leeches -

we must swim
to make the moment of union;

western light rising,
a small moon:

we lie in an ancient bargain,
skins shiny as nails.

- Waiting to Sail, pg. 50

* * *

The beach is empty,
the sea fallen
behind an island.

A man turns the sand over
and another
stares at birds in the sinking sky.

Useless to lie and not say
I saw your mother with you, Andrei.
Each time you spoke she murmured

and the moon spilled blood over the foam.

What brought her there as witness?

You were telling us about the martyrs,
you were telling us our history.

- Diary of an Event, for A.V., pg. 67

* * *

It is a difficult time,
the future branches like a candelabra.
In the dark hall the suitors lie
across the tables like sick hens.
Is there a choice, after all,
in the kind of beggar the gods send?

- Penelope's Hall, pg. 74