Vermeer's Light: Poems 1996-2006

by George Bowering

Book Overview

George Bowering has always maintained many of his poems are germinated in secret ways--secrets he has, until now, assiduously kept to himself. In suddenly giving most of those secrets away, Vermeer's Light, much of it written while Bowering was "in office" as Canada's first poet laureate, constitutes an extraordinary gesture of generosity from a poet to his readership who has so honoured him. Its alphabet series A, You're Adorable, by "Ellen Field,"...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889225656
• ISBN13: 9780889225657
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Talonbooks
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Reviewed by Michelle Boucher-Ladd

As Canada's first Poet Laureate, George Bowering's collection of poetry is, as one might expect, exceptional. Vermeer's Light is a wonderful collection that every aspiring poet would be obliged to get. While, including some wonderfully wordy poems such as Word on Water? Ask a Stupid Question, Lost in the Library, and Ellen Field's Analphabet book for Wilbur Snowshoe, nothing in this collection is over long. It is a fine tuned body, where every word has weight. The shorter poems are crisp and intriguing studies. While some of them are dark and edgy such as the Sitting in Vancouver poems, Three Political Falltime Haiku, and ASQ others pay wonderful homage. I love the Williams Carlos Williams rewrites: Metro Spring The apparition of these white chickens in the crowd, petals on a wet red wheelbarrow And (my favorite): Pictures from Bill According to Williams when Icarus fell it was no big deal. Being a librarian I am naturally drawn to Bowering's Lost in the Library. It has a witty craft and a lovely "rime." This poem makes me doubt George Bowering's staying power as "infinitesimal." I love best the second section: 2. I'm a wreck in the bibliotheque. I've got time I've got rime, I've got a really dirty neck. I can't write my way out of a wet paper Dewey decimal. Right now my skill and most of my will are infinitesimal. The last quarter of this book is what makes it a must have for any student of poetry. Rewriting My Grandfather shares poetry as process. It is incredibly insightful, dispelling the myths of writing. It also makes a brief tourist stop out of the work that goes into making a poem poetry. George Bowering's art is a monument well worth the stop and revisit.