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Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace |
eBook Available
A new collection that includes all of Bronwen Wallace's published poems, as well as a selection of previously unpublished early work.
Bronwen Wallace was recognized in the last decade of her short life as a major Canadian poet and a significant figure in the growth of the feminist movement. The author of five collections of poetry and a book of short fiction, most of which have been out of print for decades, Wallace worked in a range of poetic styles in a voice as intimate as a conversation between friends.
Offering the full breadth of this celebrated poet's output in a single, long-awaited volume, Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace brings the text of all five published collections back into print alongside unpublished poems from earlier in her career, allowing readers to see the stylistic evolution of her poetry from its first incarnation to her last written work. In an engaging and often moving tone, the poems draw the reader in even as they document the poet honing her craft during the turbulent 1970s and reveal her fascination with the politics of the personal, the everyday concerns of ordinary people, and inequality and violence. Carolyn Smart's introduction and notes supplement the collection, along with a bibliography that catalogues the scholarly and literary responses to Wallace's work for the first time.
An exhilarating reading experience, Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace celebrates the clarity, humour, righteous anger, and inclusivity of Wallace's poetry, which remains timely and original thirty years after her death.
Offering the full breadth of this celebrated poet's output in a single, long-awaited volume, Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace brings the text of all five published collections back into print alongside unpublished poems from earlier in her career, allowing readers to see the stylistic evolution of her poetry from its first incarnation to her last written work. In an engaging and often moving tone, the poems draw the reader in even as they document the poet honing her craft during the turbulent 1970s and reveal her fascination with the politics of the personal, the everyday concerns of ordinary people, and inequality and violence. Carolyn Smart's introduction and notes supplement the collection, along with a bibliography that catalogues the scholarly and literary responses to Wallace's work for the first time.
An exhilarating reading experience, Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace celebrates the clarity, humour, righteous anger, and inclusivity of Wallace's poetry, which remains timely and original thirty years after her death.
Details
392 Pages, 5.5 x 9
1 photo
ISBN 9780228001874
May 2020
Formats: Cloth, eBook
"Canadian poetry readers and critics have been waiting for a collected volume of Wallace's work for years. This will be a popular book and a major contribution to research into Wallace's poetry; not only does it preserve the texts but also the editor’s introduction provides a rich context for discussing Wallace’s position as a feminist writer in the 1980s. Wallace's works demonstrate the kind of determination that is sorely needed in today’s political climate. It’s a pleasure to see these poems collected in one volume." Tanis MacDonald, Wilfrid Laurier University
"Poet Bronwen Wallace (1945-1989) describes herself in "Sentimental Poem for My Mother" as "a statistic of the sixties/ marched to ban bombs end wars/discovered Marx and Women's Liberation/abortion marijuana brown rice/ moved as far as I could/ from the suburbs." It's one of her early poems published in Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace which also includes the text and wonder of Wallace's five published collections of poetry." Herizons
"To say that this collection is long overdue, as people typically do on these occasions, risks radical understatement, and we might productively ask ourselves why it has taken so long to bring back into print the works of a major Canadian feminist poet. Much is owed to the volume's editor, poet and close friend Carolyn Smart, for painstaking work and-one can only say-exquisite care." Canadian Literature
“A Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace is overdue. This one has everything that a lover of Wallace’s work or a scholar might desire. Smart’s introduction combines a personal account of Wallace with insightful critical observations. And the volume itself is beautiful. The poems are set with ample white space around them, and the red‐white‐and‐black bindings and dust jacket have an elegant simplicity that seems in keeping with Wallace’s work.” The Malahat Review
"Poet Bronwen Wallace (1945-1989) describes herself in "Sentimental Poem for My Mother" as "a statistic of the sixties/ marched to ban bombs end wars/discovered Marx and Women's Liberation/abortion marijuana brown rice/ moved as far as I could/ from the suburbs." It's one of her early poems published in Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace which also includes the text and wonder of Wallace's five published collections of poetry." Herizons
"To say that this collection is long overdue, as people typically do on these occasions, risks radical understatement, and we might productively ask ourselves why it has taken so long to bring back into print the works of a major Canadian feminist poet. Much is owed to the volume's editor, poet and close friend Carolyn Smart, for painstaking work and-one can only say-exquisite care." Canadian Literature
“A Collected Poems of Bronwen Wallace is overdue. This one has everything that a lover of Wallace’s work or a scholar might desire. Smart’s introduction combines a personal account of Wallace with insightful critical observations. And the volume itself is beautiful. The poems are set with ample white space around them, and the red‐white‐and‐black bindings and dust jacket have an elegant simplicity that seems in keeping with Wallace’s work.” The Malahat Review
Bronwen Wallace (1945-1989) was a Canadian poet, feminist, teacher, and mentor to many emerging writers. She lived in Kingston.
Carolyn Smart is professor of creative writing at Queen's University and founder of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.
Carolyn Smart is professor of creative writing at Queen's University and founder of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.
xi Introduction
Marrying into the Family
3 Marriages
5 Old Photographs
6 Great Aunt
7 Connecting
9 The Family Saints and the Dining-Room Table
10 The Maiden Aunts
12 Finding My Real Ancestors
14 Dark Fields
15 Heredity
16 Grandma Wagar’s Double Bind
17 Behind the Photograph
20 The Kingdom of the Fathers
22 Profile
24 Marrying into the Family
26 Rites
27 Stripping Furniture
29 Getting Down to It
31 Country Auction Sale
32 On a Country Road
33 Toffee Tin, 1917
34 Family Portrait
35 Renovating
37 Settling Down
38 The House of Our Dreams
Signs of the Former Tenant
Moving Away from the Past
43 Red Light, Green Light
46 In My Mother’s Favourite Story
50 Stanley’s Ladies Wear, circa 1952
53 Getting the Words for It
56 Christmas, Grade Six
57 The Heroes You Had as a Girl
59 After the Dance
61 That Story You Told
63 Tuesday Morning
65 Becoming a Generation
66 Inside Out
69 Toward Morning
72 I Like to Believe My Life
75 Like the Telephone
Between Words
78 Freeze Frame
80 A Simple Poem for Virginia Woolf
83 Woman Sitting
85 The Lost Dreams
86 All That Uneasy Spring
88 Between Words
91 Signs of the Former Tenant
92 Signs of the Former Tenant II
94 Isolated Incident
96 Spaces
99 Invasions
102 The Country of Old Men
104 The Edge
106 Whether You Expect It or Not
107 The Woman in This Poem
The Cancer Poems
111 Diagnosis
112 Exploratory
114 Corn-Husk Doll
115 First Dream
116 Second Dream
117 Treatment
119 Snow White
121 Third Dream
122 Fourth Dream
123 Sorceress
125 Remission
128 A Stubborn Grace
Common Magic
137 The Town Where I Grew Up
140 Lonely for the Country
142 Place of Origin
145 Distance from Harrowsmith to Tamworth
148 My Son Is Learning to Invent
151 Into the Midst of It
154 Mexican Sunsets
156 Common Magic
158 Charlie’s Yard
159 Coming Through
163 Daily News
165 Reminder
168 Woman at the Next
171 How It Will Happen
175 Dreams of Rescue
181 To Get to You
185 Thinking with the Heart
188 Like This
191 Splitting It Up
193 Reclaiming the City
196 Blackflies
199 What It Comes to Mean
201 Melons at the Speed of Light
204 Jeremy at Ten
206 Learning from the Hands
The Stubborn Particulars of Grace
211 Appeal
Joseph MacLeod Daffodils
215 Houses
217 Fast Cars
220 The Watermelon Incident
223 One of the Things I Did Back Then
226 Gifts
229 Joseph MacLeod Daffodils
Testimonies
233 The Man with the Single Miracle
237 Familiars
240 Benediction
243 Testimonies
246 Food
250 Anniversary
Bones
253 Intervals
253 Entry
254 Free Speech
257 ECU: On the Job
259 Short Story
261 Departure
263 Neighbours
267 Change of Heart
270 Burn-Out
274 Bones
Nearer to Prayers Than Stories
278 Koko
281 Seeing Is Believing
285 Nightwork
288 Things
292 Stunts
294 Ordinary Moving
297 Idyll
300 Lifelines
303 Particulars
Keep That Candle Burning Bright
Keep That Candle Burning Bright: Poems
for Emmylou Harris
307 Dedication
309 Walkin’ Shoes
311 Songbirds and Hurtin’ Songs
312 Driving
314 Cowboy Angel
315 From Nashville to Mammoth Cave
317 Bellyfull of Bluebird Wine
318 This Is the Closest I Come to a Song
319 The Presence of Jesus
320 Where the Sweetheart Rides the Rodeo Again
Everyday Science
323 Rhythm and Genes
325 Bodily Fluids
327 News of the Dead
329 Miracles
Early Poems
335 For a Sister
336 Labour Hearing
338 The Baby Shower
341 Sentimental Poem for My Mother
342 You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!
344 Departures
346 Like the Petit Point
348 We All Have Dreams
350 These Things Happen
352 They Say There’s Always a Worst
354 Like All of Our Friends
357 Annotations
363 Bibliography
369 Index of Titles
Marrying into the Family
3 Marriages
5 Old Photographs
6 Great Aunt
7 Connecting
9 The Family Saints and the Dining-Room Table
10 The Maiden Aunts
12 Finding My Real Ancestors
14 Dark Fields
15 Heredity
16 Grandma Wagar’s Double Bind
17 Behind the Photograph
20 The Kingdom of the Fathers
22 Profile
24 Marrying into the Family
26 Rites
27 Stripping Furniture
29 Getting Down to It
31 Country Auction Sale
32 On a Country Road
33 Toffee Tin, 1917
34 Family Portrait
35 Renovating
37 Settling Down
38 The House of Our Dreams
Signs of the Former Tenant
Moving Away from the Past
43 Red Light, Green Light
46 In My Mother’s Favourite Story
50 Stanley’s Ladies Wear, circa 1952
53 Getting the Words for It
56 Christmas, Grade Six
57 The Heroes You Had as a Girl
59 After the Dance
61 That Story You Told
63 Tuesday Morning
65 Becoming a Generation
66 Inside Out
69 Toward Morning
72 I Like to Believe My Life
75 Like the Telephone
Between Words
78 Freeze Frame
80 A Simple Poem for Virginia Woolf
83 Woman Sitting
85 The Lost Dreams
86 All That Uneasy Spring
88 Between Words
91 Signs of the Former Tenant
92 Signs of the Former Tenant II
94 Isolated Incident
96 Spaces
99 Invasions
102 The Country of Old Men
104 The Edge
106 Whether You Expect It or Not
107 The Woman in This Poem
The Cancer Poems
111 Diagnosis
112 Exploratory
114 Corn-Husk Doll
115 First Dream
116 Second Dream
117 Treatment
119 Snow White
121 Third Dream
122 Fourth Dream
123 Sorceress
125 Remission
128 A Stubborn Grace
Common Magic
137 The Town Where I Grew Up
140 Lonely for the Country
142 Place of Origin
145 Distance from Harrowsmith to Tamworth
148 My Son Is Learning to Invent
151 Into the Midst of It
154 Mexican Sunsets
156 Common Magic
158 Charlie’s Yard
159 Coming Through
163 Daily News
165 Reminder
168 Woman at the Next
171 How It Will Happen
175 Dreams of Rescue
181 To Get to You
185 Thinking with the Heart
188 Like This
191 Splitting It Up
193 Reclaiming the City
196 Blackflies
199 What It Comes to Mean
201 Melons at the Speed of Light
204 Jeremy at Ten
206 Learning from the Hands
The Stubborn Particulars of Grace
211 Appeal
Joseph MacLeod Daffodils
215 Houses
217 Fast Cars
220 The Watermelon Incident
223 One of the Things I Did Back Then
226 Gifts
229 Joseph MacLeod Daffodils
Testimonies
233 The Man with the Single Miracle
237 Familiars
240 Benediction
243 Testimonies
246 Food
250 Anniversary
Bones
253 Intervals
253 Entry
254 Free Speech
257 ECU: On the Job
259 Short Story
261 Departure
263 Neighbours
267 Change of Heart
270 Burn-Out
274 Bones
Nearer to Prayers Than Stories
278 Koko
281 Seeing Is Believing
285 Nightwork
288 Things
292 Stunts
294 Ordinary Moving
297 Idyll
300 Lifelines
303 Particulars
Keep That Candle Burning Bright
Keep That Candle Burning Bright: Poems
for Emmylou Harris
307 Dedication
309 Walkin’ Shoes
311 Songbirds and Hurtin’ Songs
312 Driving
314 Cowboy Angel
315 From Nashville to Mammoth Cave
317 Bellyfull of Bluebird Wine
318 This Is the Closest I Come to a Song
319 The Presence of Jesus
320 Where the Sweetheart Rides the Rodeo Again
Everyday Science
323 Rhythm and Genes
325 Bodily Fluids
327 News of the Dead
329 Miracles
Early Poems
335 For a Sister
336 Labour Hearing
338 The Baby Shower
341 Sentimental Poem for My Mother
342 You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!
344 Departures
346 Like the Petit Point
348 We All Have Dreams
350 These Things Happen
352 They Say There’s Always a Worst
354 Like All of Our Friends
357 Annotations
363 Bibliography
369 Index of Titles
