Login
Create Account
Canadian Store (CAD)
You are currently shopping in our Canadian store. For orders outside of Canada, please switch to our international store. International and US orders are billed in US dollars.
 |
Wavelengths of Your Song |
eBook Available
Intuitive environmentalism from the Canadian North is carried forth into creative global adventuring.
At night we swim / following the fence: / diverted / we enter the net / shaped like a heart / and in the heart the hook / guides us to the back
A stunning unfolding of memory, Wavelengths of Your Song juxtaposes a childhood in the northern Canadian wilderness with the adventures of an international creative life.
Genuine environmentalism is at the heart of this collection. Migrations of birds and humans lend their songs to the vivid writing and a tangible, sensory reality emerges from their sounds. Music by Beethoven and Rzewski, paintings by Norval Morrisseau and Kandinsky, and writing by Kafka and Celan, inspire Eleonore Schönmaier's poetry. She takes the reader on unexpected journeys skiing across frozen lakes, cycling along Dutch canals, or hiking in Malta and New Zealand. With surprising, at times breathtaking connections, she illuminates hot air ballooning, canoe camping, planting trees on Vienna rooftops, and the bathing of a black horse in the North Sea.
In poems that travel extensively around the globe, in lists for living well, and in love letters, Eleonore Schönmaier takes the reader on a journey along the wavelengths of the ocean, sound, and the physics of light.
A stunning unfolding of memory, Wavelengths of Your Song juxtaposes a childhood in the northern Canadian wilderness with the adventures of an international creative life.
Genuine environmentalism is at the heart of this collection. Migrations of birds and humans lend their songs to the vivid writing and a tangible, sensory reality emerges from their sounds. Music by Beethoven and Rzewski, paintings by Norval Morrisseau and Kandinsky, and writing by Kafka and Celan, inspire Eleonore Schönmaier's poetry. She takes the reader on unexpected journeys skiing across frozen lakes, cycling along Dutch canals, or hiking in Malta and New Zealand. With surprising, at times breathtaking connections, she illuminates hot air ballooning, canoe camping, planting trees on Vienna rooftops, and the bathing of a black horse in the North Sea.
In poems that travel extensively around the globe, in lists for living well, and in love letters, Eleonore Schönmaier takes the reader on a journey along the wavelengths of the ocean, sound, and the physics of light.
Details
Part of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series (number 26 in series)
188 Pages, 5 x 7.5
ISBN 9780773541702
February 2013
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Praise for Treading Fast Rivers "The natural world is prominent, almost dreamlike in Treading Fast Rivers, and starkly beautiful….Treading Fast Rivers is strong poetry." Shane Neilson, Prairie Fire Review of Books
"Schönmaier’s poetic world is a deftly-realized visual landscape….allowing her to examine-with clear-eyed perceptiveness-the territory of the heart. [Schönmaier] is alert to the sensual possibilities of the world. These poems…delight in the richness of experience." Anne Simpson, Atlantic Books Today
"Her poems open windows not so much onto but in their subjects…they describe a kind of reverence." Susan Gillis, League of Canadian Poets
"She has begun to make beauty.…wonderfully unforgettable." M. Travis Lane, Fiddlehead
"Schönmaier’s poetic gifts are apparent." Christian Riegel, The Antigonish Review
“In this newest collection, Schönmaier offers an assortment of carefully crafted poems, and conveys an underlying and powerful sense of longing for home.” Lake Journal
“The fluidity within the poems is matched by the subtle flow between them. One slips into the next through images: forest, snow, cello music, wind, the sea, horses, chocolate. The effect is like that of a symphony with interwoven and subtly varied musical statements, and, as in a symphony, the effect is cumulative.” Arc Poetry Magazine
“Even had I not read the short biographical note saying Eleonore Schönmaier ‘divides her time between Canada and The Netherlands,’ I would have wanted to make connections between her poems and the work of 17th century Dutch painters. She gives us these generously and subtly illuminated glimpses into rooms, conversations, lives. She notices and quietly draws attention to things that “get blown in” - a red petal that appears rather magically to float in a bathtub, a bee attracted to a used spoon in the kitchen sink, and “on the breakfast / table a tiny white feather.”” Canadian Poetries
“[Schönmaier]’s poems are often beautiful, lyrical, descriptive and calming. She writes about people kindly, she tackles history carefully.”Jackie Wills, The Warwick Review
"Schönmaier’s poetic world is a deftly-realized visual landscape….allowing her to examine-with clear-eyed perceptiveness-the territory of the heart. [Schönmaier] is alert to the sensual possibilities of the world. These poems…delight in the richness of experience." Anne Simpson, Atlantic Books Today
"Her poems open windows not so much onto but in their subjects…they describe a kind of reverence." Susan Gillis, League of Canadian Poets
"She has begun to make beauty.…wonderfully unforgettable." M. Travis Lane, Fiddlehead
"Schönmaier’s poetic gifts are apparent." Christian Riegel, The Antigonish Review
“In this newest collection, Schönmaier offers an assortment of carefully crafted poems, and conveys an underlying and powerful sense of longing for home.” Lake Journal
“The fluidity within the poems is matched by the subtle flow between them. One slips into the next through images: forest, snow, cello music, wind, the sea, horses, chocolate. The effect is like that of a symphony with interwoven and subtly varied musical statements, and, as in a symphony, the effect is cumulative.” Arc Poetry Magazine
“Even had I not read the short biographical note saying Eleonore Schönmaier ‘divides her time between Canada and The Netherlands,’ I would have wanted to make connections between her poems and the work of 17th century Dutch painters. She gives us these generously and subtly illuminated glimpses into rooms, conversations, lives. She notices and quietly draws attention to things that “get blown in” - a red petal that appears rather magically to float in a bathtub, a bee attracted to a used spoon in the kitchen sink, and “on the breakfast / table a tiny white feather.”” Canadian Poetries
“[Schönmaier]’s poems are often beautiful, lyrical, descriptive and calming. She writes about people kindly, she tackles history carefully.”Jackie Wills, The Warwick Review
Eleonore Schönmaier's previous book is the critically acclaimed Treading Fast Rivers. She lives in the Netherlands.
Night after Night She Dreams 3
Survival 5
Lost 7
-40°C 9
Libretto 12
Wavelengths of Your Song 14
Dining on Light 16
Routes for Finding Colours 18
Aurora 20
Copper Thunderbird 23
Birds 25
Malta 26
Gnawing 27
Tracks 28
Knot 30
The Doorbell 32
Sixteen 35
A Woman at Forty-Nine Seeks the Shore 37
Knowing 38
Beachcombing 39
As If 40
Mouths 42
Panorama 44
North American Ballads 45
Men 48
Geology 51
Gardening 52
Blindness 54
Migrations 57
We’re Cycling 58
New Year’s Eve 60
Postcards 62
The Dangers Inherent in Travel 64
Isotopes 65
South Pacific 67
Kiwi Spotting 68
Journey 70
Music 71
The Abandoned Warehouse 72
The Most Important Things 76
Tango 78
The Shirt 79
Urban 81
Evening 83
While Reading Eva Hoffman’s Illuminations 84
Crematorium 86
The Pear Tree 88
The Grandparents’ House 90
Mary 92
Too Much Goodness 93
Mandel 95
Seeds 97
Lorna Talks to Jacob at the River’s Edge 99
Saxifraga 101
The Meaning of 102
Thebes 103
Weightless 104
Anniversary 105
Origami 106
What Gets Blown In 107
Kandinsky 108
The Sandbox 109
Kafka 110
Unknown Tongues 111
Symphony in E Major 113
Undertones 115
Metronome 118
Felt 120
Bathing of the Black Horse 123
Leaf 124
What Does the Wind Taste Like When It Comes too Early or
too Late? 125
Apples 126
Upside-Down Dante 129
Swash Marks 132
Silver Anniversary 134
Sustain 135
Thanksgiving 138
Solar Plexus 140
Fever 142
Wild 144
Globe 146
Sometimes 148
Einstein 151
Time 153
Of Jumping Frogs 155
Mareile 157
Stuff 159
Vancouver 161
Dollhoused 162
The City Forest 163
Telepathy 165
Remembering the Curve of the Earth 167
Safety 169
Frankfurt, October 171
Acknowledgments 173
Notes 175
Survival 5
Lost 7
-40°C 9
Libretto 12
Wavelengths of Your Song 14
Dining on Light 16
Routes for Finding Colours 18
Aurora 20
Copper Thunderbird 23
Birds 25
Malta 26
Gnawing 27
Tracks 28
Knot 30
The Doorbell 32
Sixteen 35
A Woman at Forty-Nine Seeks the Shore 37
Knowing 38
Beachcombing 39
As If 40
Mouths 42
Panorama 44
North American Ballads 45
Men 48
Geology 51
Gardening 52
Blindness 54
Migrations 57
We’re Cycling 58
New Year’s Eve 60
Postcards 62
The Dangers Inherent in Travel 64
Isotopes 65
South Pacific 67
Kiwi Spotting 68
Journey 70
Music 71
The Abandoned Warehouse 72
The Most Important Things 76
Tango 78
The Shirt 79
Urban 81
Evening 83
While Reading Eva Hoffman’s Illuminations 84
Crematorium 86
The Pear Tree 88
The Grandparents’ House 90
Mary 92
Too Much Goodness 93
Mandel 95
Seeds 97
Lorna Talks to Jacob at the River’s Edge 99
Saxifraga 101
The Meaning of 102
Thebes 103
Weightless 104
Anniversary 105
Origami 106
What Gets Blown In 107
Kandinsky 108
The Sandbox 109
Kafka 110
Unknown Tongues 111
Symphony in E Major 113
Undertones 115
Metronome 118
Felt 120
Bathing of the Black Horse 123
Leaf 124
What Does the Wind Taste Like When It Comes too Early or
too Late? 125
Apples 126
Upside-Down Dante 129
Swash Marks 132
Silver Anniversary 134
Sustain 135
Thanksgiving 138
Solar Plexus 140
Fever 142
Wild 144
Globe 146
Sometimes 148
Einstein 151
Time 153
Of Jumping Frogs 155
Mareile 157
Stuff 159
Vancouver 161
Dollhoused 162
The City Forest 163
Telepathy 165
Remembering the Curve of the Earth 167
Safety 169
Frankfurt, October 171
Acknowledgments 173
Notes 175
