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Lurch
"[McKay's] exuberantly musical and shrewd poems are ecological in the fullest sense of the they seek to elucidate our relationships with our fragile dwelling places both on the earth and in our own skins." -- New York Times Book Review
E.J. Pratt Family Poetry Award, Winner
An extraordinary collection of poems from Griffin Poetry Prize winner Don McKay.
Old “What’s the difference between a lurch and a dance step?”
“I don’t know.”
“I didn’t think so. Let’s sit down.”
These poems are what happens when you stay out on the dance floor instead, dancing the staggers. The full moon rises from the ocean and you lurch with astonishment that we live on a rocky sphere whirling in space. Or the bird in your hand—a pipit or a storm petrel—conveys the exquisite frailty of existence. And there’s the complex of lurches as we contemplate our complicity in the sixth mass extinction.
Throughout Lurch , language dances its ardent incompetence as a translator of “the profane wonders of the wilderness,” whether manifest as Balsam Fir, Catbirds, the extinct Eskimo Curlew, or the ever-present Cosmic Microwave Background.
What is the difference between a love song and an elegy?
We live between eroding raindrops
and accelerating clocks. The piano
lifts its lid to show its wire-and-hammer
heart.
E.J. Pratt Family Poetry Award, Winner
An extraordinary collection of poems from Griffin Poetry Prize winner Don McKay.
Old “What’s the difference between a lurch and a dance step?”
“I don’t know.”
“I didn’t think so. Let’s sit down.”
These poems are what happens when you stay out on the dance floor instead, dancing the staggers. The full moon rises from the ocean and you lurch with astonishment that we live on a rocky sphere whirling in space. Or the bird in your hand—a pipit or a storm petrel—conveys the exquisite frailty of existence. And there’s the complex of lurches as we contemplate our complicity in the sixth mass extinction.
Throughout Lurch , language dances its ardent incompetence as a translator of “the profane wonders of the wilderness,” whether manifest as Balsam Fir, Catbirds, the extinct Eskimo Curlew, or the ever-present Cosmic Microwave Background.
What is the difference between a love song and an elegy?
We live between eroding raindrops
and accelerating clocks. The piano
lifts its lid to show its wire-and-hammer
heart.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
Published August 3, 2021
1 person is currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Don McKay
57 books24 followersDon McKay is an award-winning Canadian poet, editor, and educator.
McKay was educated at the University of Western Ontario and the University of Wales, where he earned his PhD in 1971. He taught creative writing and English for 27 years in universities including the University of Western Ontario and the University of New Brunswick.
In June 2007, he won the Griffin Poetry Prize for Strike/Slip (2006). He is the co-founder and manuscript reader for Brick Books, one of Canada's leading poetry presses, and was editor of the literary journal The Fiddlehead from 1991-96.
In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[2]
McKay was educated at the University of Western Ontario and the University of Wales, where he earned his PhD in 1971. He taught creative writing and English for 27 years in universities including the University of Western Ontario and the University of New Brunswick.
In June 2007, he won the Griffin Poetry Prize for Strike/Slip (2006). He is the co-founder and manuscript reader for Brick Books, one of Canada's leading poetry presses, and was editor of the literary journal The Fiddlehead from 1991-96.
In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[2]
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2021
beautiful. it ties together so much of the natural world and botanical & bird knowledge with observation and word mastery.
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October 6, 2022Read for a university English course entitled Advanced Canadian Literature — Contemporary Canadian Poetry, but only focused only really focused on one poem.
January 4, 2023
A very impressive poetry collection about Nature, Language, the innate language of nature and the innate nature of language.
January 11, 2025
“We live between eroding raindrops
and accelerating clocks. The piano
lifts its lid to show its wire-and-hammer
heart.”
and accelerating clocks. The piano
lifts its lid to show its wire-and-hammer
heart.”
October 24, 2025
So far, a nice book. The nature based poetry is soothing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews