FEATURED POET: Medbh McGuckian

SIBYL WITH GUITAR
(c) Medbh McGuckian

When I look back I don't know
If there have been any nights,
Even any difference in light. I don't
Hear the city the way I used to,

When there was something in me
That could catch fire, like long ago
Waiting for a kiss. The moon hides
In the throat of the tone of the yellow

Bell, I am willing that the seasons
Wear me out. Dead-eyed angel,
Lying on her side, white in the daring
Dark, her death is the smallest sadness

She was able to cause. A folding
Of hands, as if every place knows
About all the others: the patience
Of a summer in the rebellion 

Of her skin; a milky rush
In the curves of a riverbank.



_____________________________
 Published in Vallum 7:1, "Futures," 2009.

Mavis Gallant has died at 91...

Sad news, the passing of Mavis Gallant, a literary great...


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/writer-mavis-gallant-dies-at-age-91/article16930775/

Featured Poet: X.J. Kennedy

LADDER TO THE MOON
(c) X.J. Kennedy

If I had a ladder that reached to the moon
Up its millions of rungs I'd go.
Up higher than ever the clouds can fly
Till the earth was a ball below.

I'd put on my warm wool winter coat
And my long scarlet scarf in case
While I climbed my ladder right up to the moon
It should start to snow in space.

I'd sidestep a couple of shooting stars
I'd stand on the steepest hill
At the top of my ladder to the moon
If only the moon stood still.


________________________
(Published in Vallum 6:2, an issue devoted to children, "Play and the Absurd."

Charles Simic via The Paris Review

The Paris Review

“Poetry in my view is a defense of the individual against all the forces arrayed against him. ” —Charles Simic

Read our 2005 interview with the Serbian-American poet here: http://tpr.ly/h2eM3e.

Charles Simic was published in Vallum a few years ago. His words in the above quote point to the meaning of the word "Vallum" as we use it in our explorations. Follow the above link to the Paris Review's interview.                /ez

FEATURED POET: Jan Zwicky

Guige
(c) Jan Zwicky

             There is a sound
that is a whole of many parts,
a sorrowless transparency, like luck,
that opens in the centre of a thing.
An eye, a river, fishheads, death,
gold in your pocket, and a half-wit
son: the substance of the world
is light and blindness and the
measure of our wisdom is our love.
Our diligence: ten fingers and
a healthy set of lungs. practice
ceaselessly: there is
one art: wind
in the open spaces
grieving, laughing
with us, saying
improvise.


----------------------------------------------
(From, Practising Bach. Published in Vallum 6:1, 2008.)

CANADIAN LITERATURE IN THE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

CANADIAN LITERATURE IN THE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

With the recent announcement of Canadian short-fiction writer Alice Munro as this year’s Nobel Laureate in literature, many are wondering what this holds for the perception of Canada as a literary nation. 

                

Certain nations have an incontestable status as literary powerhouses and no matter their country of origin, little evidence is needed to convince most avid readers of the literary importance of countries such as: the U.S, U.K, France, Russia, Ireland, etc. However, many less populous nations are overshadowed by these literary behemoths and Canada is no exception. 

                

Asking them who their favourite Canadian author is will solicit from many Canadians only blank stares and umms and uhhs, before stumbling upon the names of Atwood or Richler. Even within Canada extensive knowledge of the Canadian literary canon is largely limited to those involved in it and despite the efforts of the Canadian literary community and the government to promote Canadian literature, most Canadians read far fewer domestic works than international ones.

                

Canadian prose and poetry has long been overshadowed, but change may be in sight. By receiving the Nobel Prize, Munro has been internationally recognized as one of the most important living writers and as interest in her work grows so too may interest in Canadian literature as a whole. Munro’s lifetime achievement has put Canadian literature in the headlines and brought with it the hope that it will be seen there far more often.

- Connor Mellegers

   Intern

   Vallum: Contemporary Poetry

FEATURED POET: Kevin Higgins

BETRAYALS
(c) Kevin Higgins, 2007 (in Vallum 4:2/5:1)

        When the bombers refused to turn
into butterflies, and the Workers
         went down the road chanting,
"They say fight-back!
          We say cut-back!"

she put on her
            stop-doing-that-now face
and counterattacked with evening
            after evening of pure thoughts
and proper posture; accompanied

           her gluten-free muesli
to the verandah and watched the seagulls
           flying towards her;
as she took out and weighed
            all our betrayals.