As if. E.D. Blodgett. The University of Alberta Press. Robert Kroetsch Series. Edmonton, Alberta. 2014.
E.D. Blodgett's As if is not the water I usually tread. I will call his formalism precision and you should too.
Blodgett is a stone-cutter of the highest order. Whatever gemstone it is he starts with is impeccably tailored until only the finest facets endure. These are jewels.
...
how can music tell
the edge where silence ends
a colour that appears
of a sudden at
the corners of your eye
as one might pluck a string
in darkness and a sun
of music might spring up
the echo of it all
along horizons of
every living thing
rains and tree and air
whatever they are
they sing themselves in one
I am of colours that
no one can recall
and music fades into
a second silence more
profound than what had come
before without the pitch
of music that might say
what silence had been
...
Surprisingly, the most frequent question asked about this blog is whether or not I copy the poems from some on-line source or actually type each and every one of them out from the book. It is the latter. I like to think of it in the same way that old painters used to have apprentices paint copies (usually in a slightly different size) so that they could learn the Masters' strokes.
And although it may not have improved my own poetry it certainly helps me get inside the poems in a way I can't access by simply reading them.
Mr. Blodgett's poems are a perfect example of that. To read them is a joy. To type them out word for word is a lesson.
...
so the stars are
so stubborn through the night
turning through the space
of dark eternities
and right before your eyes
where all the world that you
can see moves past
the window where you sit
reach out and you can touch
the whole of night and stars
if you were blind you would
possess knowledge there
beneath your fingers stars
and where they have come from
...
As if is a sequence of connected poems where one poem is the preface for the next. This seamless incantation breathes clarity.
As if reads like a cherished book of prayer until you are inside the poems and a willing participant in the conversation.
This is what happens when a masterful poet in full-bloom has honed his craft. Perhaps it is not perfect but it certainly quietly grand, humbly majestic.
...
were we born for this
we were born to be amazed
to gaze forever toward
beauty that cannot
be fathomed standing in
barely visible
veils of morning mists
upon its highest height
the sun careful in
its matutinal awe
almost turning away
ashamed almost to reveal
...
Matutinal. I had to look it up. It means "of or occurring in the morning". I love learning new words.
Blodgett is one of Canada's great poets. If he has somehow managed to fly below your radar you can fix that by reading As if.
Today's book of poetry is proud to write about Mr. Blodgett.
E.D. Blodgett
E.D. Blodgett, F.R.S.C. and Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, taught at the University of Alberta for 34 years. Having contributed to a number of journals both here and abroad, he has also written and edited a number of books on aspects of the Canadian Literatures. He has published more than 22 books of poetry. Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano (Ottawa: BuschekBooks, 1996) was given the Governor General’s Award and the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry. Two collections were awarded the Stephan G. Stephansson Poetry Award by the Writers Guild of Alberta. The University of Alberta Press has published six of his books of poetry: Apostrophes II: through you I, Apostrophes IV: speaking you is holiness, Apostrophes VI: open the grass, An Ark of Koans, Elegy, and Apostrophes VII: Sleep, You, a Tree. He has also published a renga with Jacques Brault, entitled Transfiguration (BuschekBooks and Editions de Noroît, 1998), which was given the Governor General’s Award for Translation. From 2007 to 2009 he was Edmonton's Poet Laureate. He lives in South Surrey, British Columbia and is married with four children and five grandchildren.
E.D. Blodgett
Reading at the Editor's Association of Canada
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