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Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete |
eBook Available
Island life carries on while a beautiful woman lies in a coma surrounded by friends and lovers.
Thyme clings, high / and away from the grazing and scents / the air.
Island reality is interconnected with live-retrieved memories in which a nurse follows a violent patient into the northern Canadian bush, a migrant mother faces her new job as the village butcher, an Ojibway man is forced to walk a dangerous route home alone, teenagers loot the local dump to build their mother's wheelchair, and an electrician watches a woman play a grand piano on a ballfield.
A (re)creation of the surreality and altered time within deep states of grieving, Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete juxtaposes sorrow with fragmentary unapologetic joy. Eleonore Schönmaier forges compelling symphonic resonances between European musical encounters and a northern working-class childhood. By centring her experiential empathy on a history of racism and poverty, she guides us into better ways of being. Intimate reflections are contrasted with geopolitical and environmental concerns as Schönmaier's fierce intelligence focuses on what is most essential in our lives.
The arc of this collection offers a rejuvenating meditation on the meaning of loss and love, highlighted by the lyric beauty of the writing.
Island reality is interconnected with live-retrieved memories in which a nurse follows a violent patient into the northern Canadian bush, a migrant mother faces her new job as the village butcher, an Ojibway man is forced to walk a dangerous route home alone, teenagers loot the local dump to build their mother's wheelchair, and an electrician watches a woman play a grand piano on a ballfield.
A (re)creation of the surreality and altered time within deep states of grieving, Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete juxtaposes sorrow with fragmentary unapologetic joy. Eleonore Schönmaier forges compelling symphonic resonances between European musical encounters and a northern working-class childhood. By centring her experiential empathy on a history of racism and poverty, she guides us into better ways of being. Intimate reflections are contrasted with geopolitical and environmental concerns as Schönmaier's fierce intelligence focuses on what is most essential in our lives.
The arc of this collection offers a rejuvenating meditation on the meaning of loss and love, highlighted by the lyric beauty of the writing.
Details
Part of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series (number 58 in series)
152 Pages, 5 x 7.5
ISBN 9780228005810
June 2021
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"These are understated poems grounded in imagism, snapshots of a life, where the poet speaks quietly to her reader with precision and insight." Armand Garnet Ruffo, author of Treaty#
"Spanning continents and decades, the poems in Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete bear witness to beauty, pain, and injustice alike. Meditative and musical, Schönmaier's verse renders the world in vivid, attentive language." Annick MacAskill, author of Murmurations
"Eleonore Schönmaier's poems are profoundly lyrical. Their words come from a brave and tender witness, and in their white spaces is the sound of an orchestra playing by the sea." Sadiqa de Meijer, author of The Outer Wards
"Spanning continents and decades, the poems in Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete bear witness to beauty, pain, and injustice alike. Meditative and musical, Schönmaier's verse renders the world in vivid, attentive language." Annick MacAskill, author of Murmurations
"Eleonore Schönmaier's poems are profoundly lyrical. Their words come from a brave and tender witness, and in their white spaces is the sound of an orchestra playing by the sea." Sadiqa de Meijer, author of The Outer Wards
Eleonore Schönmaier is an award winning author and poet. She divides her time between Canada and coastal Europe.
As the Sand Lines Our Pockets 3
Entwined 5
Slowly 6
Ferry 7
Bed 8
Shoulders 9
Tasting the Fallen Sky 10
Vision 12
Full Moon 13
Parameters of Loss 15
Wheels 17
Afloat 20
Touching 22
Fabric 24
The Railing 25
In the New 27
The Dumb Waiter 29
Sisters 32
Compose 33
Garden 35
Her Forehead 38
Motion Pictures 39
Anthie in Flight 42
Lemon Tree 43
Turquoise 44
Island 45
Rows 47
Pink 48
“it didn’t happen here” 50
Whiteout 52
Epicentre 54
Iron Maiden 56
Harness 58
Gold 60
Back to Where They Came From 61
Labyrinthitis 63
Inner 64
At the Ends of the Earth 66
Nectar 67
Circular 68
Fish Camp 69
Diving 71
Multitude 72
Sleepless 73
Branches 75
Variations for a Deer and a Rustle 78
Touchstone 79
Remember 81
Hunger 82
Sand 83
Strangers 84
Glyphs 86
Waiting 87
Bottling 89
Home 91
Quinzhee 93
Sky 94
Open 95
Outstretched Arms 96
Tongues 97
So Much Remains Invisible 98
Johnny on the Spot 100
Beethoven and the Doorbells 102
Through Thin Walls 104
Applause 106
Instrument of Troubled Dreams 107
Softly 109
Outside the Lamplight Circle 110
Lake 113
Chocolatier 114
Variations for a Harp and a Feather 116
Anthie’s House 117
Acknowledgments 119
Notes 121
Entwined 5
Slowly 6
Ferry 7
Bed 8
Shoulders 9
Tasting the Fallen Sky 10
Vision 12
Full Moon 13
Parameters of Loss 15
Wheels 17
Afloat 20
Touching 22
Fabric 24
The Railing 25
In the New 27
The Dumb Waiter 29
Sisters 32
Compose 33
Garden 35
Her Forehead 38
Motion Pictures 39
Anthie in Flight 42
Lemon Tree 43
Turquoise 44
Island 45
Rows 47
Pink 48
“it didn’t happen here” 50
Whiteout 52
Epicentre 54
Iron Maiden 56
Harness 58
Gold 60
Back to Where They Came From 61
Labyrinthitis 63
Inner 64
At the Ends of the Earth 66
Nectar 67
Circular 68
Fish Camp 69
Diving 71
Multitude 72
Sleepless 73
Branches 75
Variations for a Deer and a Rustle 78
Touchstone 79
Remember 81
Hunger 82
Sand 83
Strangers 84
Glyphs 86
Waiting 87
Bottling 89
Home 91
Quinzhee 93
Sky 94
Open 95
Outstretched Arms 96
Tongues 97
So Much Remains Invisible 98
Johnny on the Spot 100
Beethoven and the Doorbells 102
Through Thin Walls 104
Applause 106
Instrument of Troubled Dreams 107
Softly 109
Outside the Lamplight Circle 110
Lake 113
Chocolatier 114
Variations for a Harp and a Feather 116
Anthie’s House 117
Acknowledgments 119
Notes 121
