Scott Bryson reviews Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees (2016) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to provide the first review of Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees (2016) in Broken Pencil. Thanks so much! You can see the review here. As he writes:

There has never been a Battle of Kingsway, in a literal sense. Kingsway, in this case, is a thoroughfare that runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and Renée Sarojini Saklikar — Surrey, British Columbia’s first Poet Laureate — has drafted a virtual battle along its length (plus, there are bees).

These poems all appear to be connected and loosely plotted. There are recurring and curiously-named characters — (A)bigail, the INVESTIGATOR is one such example — but their function isn’t always clear; this is not transparent verse. While the events depicted are open to interpretation, it’s evident that Saklikar is draping a historical veil over modern concerns, such as community housing issues and protests.

What this collection portrays more than anything, is the streets and parklands of Vancouver. Significant time is spent dissecting plant and animal life — including several varieties of bee — but the talk on wildlife reliably gives way to urban locales: tennis courts; a lab; shops on Robson Street.

After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees is excerpted from thecanadaproject, Saklikar’s “life- long poem chronicle about place, identity, language.” It’s an effortless read — her style is studious but smooth — though comprehension of the bigger picture will require ongoing contemplation.

some author activity: Saklikar, Christie, beaulieu, Clarke + McEwan,

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is featured over at Drunken Boat; Jason Christie has new work in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; five pages from derek beaulieu's forthcoming a a novel are now up at X-Peri; Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke gets a write-up at the CBC website; and Drew McEwan has some new work featured at the Matrix magazine website.

new from above/ground press: Femme, by Julia Polyck-O'Neill

Femme
Julia Polyck-O’Neill
$4

Undervalue/Dark (after Sylvia Plath, “ELM: For Ruth Fainlight”)

I know the bottom . . .

It is what you fear.

                                   I do not fear it: I have been there.

put your money where your mouth is

put your mouth where your money is

your money is.

your mouth is.

                                  (I am terrified by this dark thing/

That sleeps in me)

         & at this point I think life writing is the better solution.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com

Julia Polyck-O’Neill is an artist, curator, critic, and writer. She lives in St Catharines, Ontario, where she runs the award-winning Border Blur Reading Series. She is a doctoral candidate in Brock University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program, where she is completing a SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary and comparative critical study of contemporary conceptualist literature and art in Vancouver. She also teaches in visual culture in the department of Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

Joseph LaBine reviews George Bowering’s That Toddlin’ Town / Baby, don’t ya wanna go? (above/ground press, 2016)

Joseph LaBine was good enough to review George Bowering’s That Toddlin’ Town / Baby, don’t ya wanna go? (above/ground press, 2016) over at the Flat Singles Press blog. Thanks so much! This is the first review of Bowering's latest, and you can see the original review here.

new from above/ground press: THE PATIENT STORM, by Dana Claxton

THE PATIENT STORM
Dana Claxton
$4

They are heading in from the West and perhaps they are held up… not only in the valley, but by the river’s edge. Hm. Either way, we will have to depart soon and they can join us.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Dana Claxton is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes film and video, installation and performance art. Her work is held in public collections, including the The National Gallery of Canada and Vancouver Art Gallery. Her work has been screened internationally, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (New York) and the Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis). Dana is of Hunkpapa Lakota descent and her family reserve is Wood Mountain Saskatchewan. Dana currently resides in Vancouver Canada and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia.

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Brockwell, Bramer, Ladouceur + Ball,

Stephen Brockwell is interviewed on his journal The Rideau Review (1987-88); Shannon Bramer has new poems up at Minola Review; Ben Ladouceur participates in the "12 or 20 questions" interview series; and The University of Sheffield Library does a nice write-up on Nelson Ball's Weed/Flower Press.

new from above/ground press: theory of rooms, by Drew McEwan

theory of rooms
Drew McEwan
$4

Rooms with furniture inside.
Inside buildings. Buildings repeat in a city.
Food left on table rewrites a presence.

A room refuses help. Chairs remain, and later.

Animals who live in maps of forests.
Forests shaped like rooms in building.
Animals labour to expand the boundary.

Rooms of forests on another coast.
Buildings recycle a muscular tension.
From a distance it looks the same.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Drew McEwan is the author the books repeater (BookThug 2012), a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award, and the forthcoming If Pressed (BookThug 2017), as well as numerous chapbooks including Cant tell if this book is depressing or if i’m just sad (No press 2016) and Conditional (Jackpine 2014). She lives in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com
 
To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com