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rushes from the river disappointment |
eBook Available
Lyrical field notes exploring tests of courage in relationships from a bold emerging voice in Canadian poetry.
those of us who've seen miracles know how to ask. / if you've asked, do you love me, i almost certainly / don't love you.
This meditative, musically attentive collection explores the confounding nature of intimate relationships. stephanie roberts's poetic expression is often irreverent, unapologetic, and infused with humour that can take surprisingly grave turns.
rushes from the river disappointment traverses city, country, and fantasy using nature as artery through the emotional landscape. As they wrestle to come to terms with the effects of uncertainty and grief on hope and belief, these diverse field notes are interspersed with the fabulous: a polar bear and owl engage in flirtation, a time traveller appears on a lake, an erotic scene takes place on a train, and we confront "people capable of eating popcorn at the movie of your agony." roberts's language is dense with images and sometimes acrobatic.
In poems that affirm love and desire as treasures fought for more than just felt, rushes from the river disappointment turns an unblinking gaze on the failures of courage that distance us from love.
This meditative, musically attentive collection explores the confounding nature of intimate relationships. stephanie roberts's poetic expression is often irreverent, unapologetic, and infused with humour that can take surprisingly grave turns.
rushes from the river disappointment traverses city, country, and fantasy using nature as artery through the emotional landscape. As they wrestle to come to terms with the effects of uncertainty and grief on hope and belief, these diverse field notes are interspersed with the fabulous: a polar bear and owl engage in flirtation, a time traveller appears on a lake, an erotic scene takes place on a train, and we confront "people capable of eating popcorn at the movie of your agony." roberts's language is dense with images and sometimes acrobatic.
In poems that affirm love and desire as treasures fought for more than just felt, rushes from the river disappointment turns an unblinking gaze on the failures of courage that distance us from love.
Details
Part of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series (number 53 in series)
128 Pages, 5 x 7.5
ISBN 9780228001676
June 2020
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"How lucky we are in this heartbreaking world to have roberts's compelling voice of beauty, humour, and depth. Through these stunning poems, roberts 'effortlessly holds up the universe.' A gorgeous collection essential for every reader and every bookshelf." Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Hourglass Museum
"Deep sorrow and cautious joy etch themselves onto the bodies that populate this book, whether they belong to cities, seasons, or animals that speak with assuring tongues. roberts writes with a sharpness that cuts with one hand and soothes with the other. Her work shifts the earth from beneath your feet." Kanika Lawton, editor in chief, L'Éphémère Review
"roberts speaks with clarity and certainty, in a firm and haunting voice. This is an author clearly driven by a need to articulate what is missed. She is unafraid to end a poem abruptly and to let the quiet that follows do some of the speaking. She's also clearly having fun - with physics, with form, with the second grammar of the line break, and with memories joyous and shocking and neither and both." QWF A.M. Klein jury
"A sweeping force of music, pulsing images, clear wit, and tenderness. Within beautifully formed poems, there is extensive consideration of what we can understand about love and grief alongside faith and "unbelief " over time." Montreal Review of Books
"Deep sorrow and cautious joy etch themselves onto the bodies that populate this book, whether they belong to cities, seasons, or animals that speak with assuring tongues. roberts writes with a sharpness that cuts with one hand and soothes with the other. Her work shifts the earth from beneath your feet." Kanika Lawton, editor in chief, L'Éphémère Review
"roberts speaks with clarity and certainty, in a firm and haunting voice. This is an author clearly driven by a need to articulate what is missed. She is unafraid to end a poem abruptly and to let the quiet that follows do some of the speaking. She's also clearly having fun - with physics, with form, with the second grammar of the line break, and with memories joyous and shocking and neither and both." QWF A.M. Klein jury
"A sweeping force of music, pulsing images, clear wit, and tenderness. Within beautifully formed poems, there is extensive consideration of what we can understand about love and grief alongside faith and "unbelief " over time." Montreal Review of Books
A citizen of Canada, Panama, and the United States, stephanie roberts is the prize-winning author of The Melting Potential of Fire. roberts is based in Quebec.
People Believing Badly 3
TEMPESTA: TUESDAY DECEMBER TWENTIETH THREE THREE THREE AY EM 4
The Woods of Perhaps 5
Forest Nocturne 7
Passages North 9
Father Son Spirit 10
This Is about Being Black 12
ALLHALLOWMAS 14
Boots of Spanish Leather 16
THE OPENING LITURGY OF THE MORNING’S FIRST DRAFT IS ALL FUCKING WHILE THE EVENING MAKES LOVE AS THE GOOD POET PUTS IT 17
i never tire of the moon 19
Set Fire to Stop Fire 20
Something Terrible Is Going to Happen 21
Catching Sight of The Niña The Pinta and
The Santa Maria 23
Off Hours 24
Commute the Sentence 26
Tinder of the “Desperate Man” 27
THE PHYSICS OF LOVE AND OTHER UNCERTAIN PHASES OF THE CHEMISTRY IN COULOMB’S LAW 28
Tame 35
THE WEEK-LATE ANSWER TO THAT HOT-TEMPERED TEXT ON MY BIRTHDAY 36
I/U 37
Now I Know 39
re: stacks 41
Middle-Age Cartwheel 43
The Lovers Quarrel 45
Slim Tuesday 46
Scene V 47
Winter Aubade 48
How the Wind Heels You 50
Hold Desire as Sand 52
Connections 54
Black Lashes & White Pickup Accents 56
Love Like a Waning Moon 58
Come Back and Solve for x 59
Soft Part 60
A Firefly Turns on the Evening’s First Light 62
No Such Forever 63
Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Frog 64
Via Rail Dreaming 66
Part for Me 68
IN ANSWER TO MY I LOVE YOU 70
Make the Next Second Chance 75
Nerve Damage 77
If We Are Savage & Lucky 78
If We Are Savage & Lucky II 80
Vision 82
The Wall 85
Reasonable Amount of Tenderness 87
Of Course This Brick 89
Germinate 90
CIRCLE EARTH: MEDITATION AFTER READING TROPIC OF CANCER 92
Canadian Goose Summer 94
One Two Three Touch or How Not to Dance
the Bachata 95
WITH SOFT EYES SHE LEARNED TO SEE THE CURVATURES OF SPACETIME IN THE OMNIPRESENT GRID OF HOPE AND THEN CRY ACCORDINGLY 96
OMFG: UNTIL THE TYGER LEARNS HOW TO WRITE 98
Rushes from the River Disappointment 100
Overcast 102
Notes 103
Acknowledgments 106
TEMPESTA: TUESDAY DECEMBER TWENTIETH THREE THREE THREE AY EM 4
The Woods of Perhaps 5
Forest Nocturne 7
Passages North 9
Father Son Spirit 10
This Is about Being Black 12
ALLHALLOWMAS 14
Boots of Spanish Leather 16
THE OPENING LITURGY OF THE MORNING’S FIRST DRAFT IS ALL FUCKING WHILE THE EVENING MAKES LOVE AS THE GOOD POET PUTS IT 17
i never tire of the moon 19
Set Fire to Stop Fire 20
Something Terrible Is Going to Happen 21
Catching Sight of The Niña The Pinta and
The Santa Maria 23
Off Hours 24
Commute the Sentence 26
Tinder of the “Desperate Man” 27
THE PHYSICS OF LOVE AND OTHER UNCERTAIN PHASES OF THE CHEMISTRY IN COULOMB’S LAW 28
Tame 35
THE WEEK-LATE ANSWER TO THAT HOT-TEMPERED TEXT ON MY BIRTHDAY 36
I/U 37
Now I Know 39
re: stacks 41
Middle-Age Cartwheel 43
The Lovers Quarrel 45
Slim Tuesday 46
Scene V 47
Winter Aubade 48
How the Wind Heels You 50
Hold Desire as Sand 52
Connections 54
Black Lashes & White Pickup Accents 56
Love Like a Waning Moon 58
Come Back and Solve for x 59
Soft Part 60
A Firefly Turns on the Evening’s First Light 62
No Such Forever 63
Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Frog 64
Via Rail Dreaming 66
Part for Me 68
IN ANSWER TO MY I LOVE YOU 70
Make the Next Second Chance 75
Nerve Damage 77
If We Are Savage & Lucky 78
If We Are Savage & Lucky II 80
Vision 82
The Wall 85
Reasonable Amount of Tenderness 87
Of Course This Brick 89
Germinate 90
CIRCLE EARTH: MEDITATION AFTER READING TROPIC OF CANCER 92
Canadian Goose Summer 94
One Two Three Touch or How Not to Dance
the Bachata 95
WITH SOFT EYES SHE LEARNED TO SEE THE CURVATURES OF SPACETIME IN THE OMNIPRESENT GRID OF HOPE AND THEN CRY ACCORDINGLY 96
OMFG: UNTIL THE TYGER LEARNS HOW TO WRITE 98
Rushes from the River Disappointment 100
Overcast 102
Notes 103
Acknowledgments 106
Author website
Feature poem 'lady fine is for sugar', Poetry Foundation
On the cover design by David Drummond, Spine Magazine
Author interview, Shenandoah
12 or 20 questions with stephanie roberts, Rob McLennan's Blog
Review, Montreal Review of Book
Feature poem 'lady fine is for sugar', Poetry Foundation
On the cover design by David Drummond, Spine Magazine
Author interview, Shenandoah
12 or 20 questions with stephanie roberts, Rob McLennan's Blog
Review, Montreal Review of Book
Finalist
Quebec Writers Federation
A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry
2020
Quebec Writers Federation
A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry
2020
