Saturday Poem

THE STAMMERER’S SOLILOQUY

There are times I can’t even understand
myself for this damn stammering.
It is only here in this tarred shack
I can say something straight out
like I hear in my head.
This dog listens–right, boy–after all
we gnaw on the same fucking bone.
My neighbour, what does he know
for all his learning?
I’ll not stutter my courtesy,
blurt it out for his sake today.
I’ll step where I please.

Damn that bitch of his,
always at my heels,
why can’t he keep it tied?
Can’t I walk the ground without that?
I’ll keep my complaint to myself,
silence serve best, as they say.
Then, God, I’ll have enough of it–
it can’t come too soon.

From Animals of My Own Kind (2009) by Harry Thurston.

ReLit Prize

Delighted to announce that Signal poets Harry Thurston (Animals of My Own Kind) and Richard Greene (Boxing the Compass) have been longlisted. I hope they stay in the running.

Hot Art

I'm a little late linking to this, but about week ago The National Post published a transcript of the panel they convened on Canadian book design (hattip: CanCult).

I've just had a chance to read it now, and it's quite fascinating. I was especially impressed by all the thoughtful justifications given for the various methods (which designers read the book, which don't, and why). Too many interesting moments to point to, but, from my experience, Angel Guerra was on the mark about the promotional power of a good image: "it’s pretty clear that if you’re going to a sales conference or to sell to booksellers, mainly they’re not going to even read the manuscripts themselves, so the image is really important for books." And of course, a good cover is a godsend to friends who hate your book but very much like you: it gives them something else to talk about.

At Vehicule, we feel very fortunate to have a phenom like David Drummond working for us (here's a little feature on all the prep that went into the cover for Geoffrey Cook's poetry debut Postscript).

Above is a sneak peek at the terrific covers David has designed for our Fall 2009 poetry list: left to right, Harry Thurston (Animals of My Own Kind: New and Selected Poems) and Richard Greene (Boxing the Compass).

UPDATE: You can read the back story behind each of the two covers on David's blog.