writersreadconcordia poetry

Angular & Crabwise: a Reading with McKay and Dodds

Join Writers Read on Friday October 7th at 2pm (MB 2.130, 1450 Rue Guy) for our first event of the season, as we host Don McKay and Jeramy Dodds, two equally original poets, for a reading and discussion about writing poetry, winning poetry prizes, and speaking in the voices of Old Icelandic, bird songs, and stones.

“Over a span of more than forty years, Don McKay has been writing and publishing poetry and essays, his reputation and influence increasing with each passing year. McKay’s books have been recognized with many awards, including five nominations for the Governor General’s Award, winning twice, and three nominations for the Griffin Poetry Prize, winning once. His is the voice of a careful observer, a confiding and companionate voice that whispers “Look!” to the reader, pointing out the barely noticeable and rarely considered phenomena that underpin our short existence.” (Gooselane Editions)

Jeramy Dodds’ first collection of poems, Crabwise to the Hounds, won the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. His poems have won the CBC Literary Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award. He holds an MA in Medieval Icelandic Studies and his latest release is translations of the 13th Century Poetic Edda. “Dodds’ wasabi-infused free verse is sprinkled with its own odd Cat in the Hat magic, twisting familiar idioms into unexpected meditations while exploring the sublime potential of myth, metaphor, and the English language. Reading Dodds’ poetry, one is first struck by a sense of familiar smells, distilled universal moments; yet, his language stretches to the very edge of consciousness.” (Mark Vincenz)

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Don McKay’s “Fridge Nocturne”

In “Fridge Noc­turne”, a short poem near the begin­ning of Don McKay’s selected poems, the sleep­less poet lies lis­ten­ing to the sound of his fridge, ‘the old/armless weep­ing wil­low of the kitchen’. The fridge’s “Hum­ble mur­mur” brings to his mind sev­eral dis­tant rivers–“the Saugeen, the Goulais/the Raisin”. The per­me­abil­ity of the bor­der between the domes­tic world and the wilder­ness which lies beyond it marks a land­scape whose vast­ness teaches early that, “Lonely is a knife whose han­dle fits the mind/too well, its old­est and most hos­pitable friend” (“Noc­tur­nal Ani­mals”). How­ever, “There is a loneliness/ which must be entered rather than resolved” (“On Leav­ing”) and to enter the wilder­ness with Don McKay is to have the sharpest, most informed and respon­sive guide. Here are his thoughts on the White-throated Spar­row:

I was think­ing of the mus­cles in that grey-white breast,
pec­toralis major pow­er­ing each down­stroke,
pec­toralis minor with its rope-and-pul­ley ten­don
reach­ing through the shoul­der to the
top­side of the humerus to haul it up again;
of the ster­num with the extra keel it has evolved to
anchor all that effort, of the dark wind
and the white curl on the waves below, the slow dawn
and the thick­en­ing shore­line. (“Load”)

Read the rest of “Introducing Don McKay” at Arc

(Photo Credit: National Post)

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Don McKay & Jeramy Dodds, Friday October 7, 2pm, MB 2.130, 1450 Rue Guy

McKay’s collected poems, Angular Unconformity was published in 2014 and he has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry twice, for Night Field (1991) and Another Gravity(2000). Dodds’ most recent publication is a translation of the Poetic Edda (Coach House Books, 2014) from Old Icelandic into English. He is a poetry editor at Coach House Books.

writersreadconcordia reading, Uncategorized

Autumn 2016: Don Mckay & Jeramy Dodds

Don McKay & Jeramy Dodds, Friday October 7, 2pm, MB 2.130, 1450 Rue Guy.
McKay’s collected poems, Angular Unconformity was published in 2014 and he has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry twice, for Night Field (1991) and Another Gravity (2000). Dodds’ most recent publication is a translation of the Poetic Edda (Coach House Books, 2014) from Old Icelandic into English. He is a poetry editor at Coach House Books.

“McKay displays an extraordinary capacity for submitting to and reveling in the musical phrases and cadences of language while never coming loose form meaning and sense.” Here McKay reads from Camber (2005).

“There is a psycholonic lexical energy here, deep intelligence and a serious commitment to craft.” Here Dodds read from Crabwise to the Hounds (2004).