{"id":5425,"date":"2018-02-26T19:52:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T19:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=5425"},"modified":"2018-02-26T19:52:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T19:52:13","slug":"poets-die-poetry-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=5425","title":{"rendered":"Poets die, poetry persists…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"318AZKX7E5L._SX308_BO1,204,203,200_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…because we resurrect it. Well, nerds do. I will be reading Anne Wilkinson’s works at the Dead Poets Reading Series<\/a> Sun, March 11 at the Vancouver Public Library at 3 PM.\u00a0 Thanks to Kevin Spenst<\/a>, Diane Tucker<\/a> and all the organizers of the series.<\/p>\n

“Anne Cochran Wilkinson (September 21, 1910 \u2013 May 10, 1961) was a Canadian poet. She was part of the modernist movement in Canadian poetry in the 1940s and 1950s, one of only a few prominent women poets of the time, along with Dorothy Livesay and P. K. Page.”<\/p>\n

I had heard of Wilkinson but rediscovered her in the comprehensive, fascinating Poetry by Canadian Women <\/a><\/em>anthology edited by Rosemary Sullivan (Oxford University Press, 1989). As I told a friend, it’s dangerous for me to enter a used book store. I invariably emerge only after having blown 50-100 buck on various volumes of verse. But, some days it’s required.<\/p>\n

This is my favourite so far:<\/p>\n

In June and Gentle Oven<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June and gentle oven
\nSummer kingdoms simmer
\nAs they come
\nAnd through flower and leaf and love
\nRelease
\nTheir sweetest juice.<\/p>\n

No wind at all
\nOn the wide green world
\nWhere fields go stroll-
\ning by
\nAnd in and out
\nAn adder of a stream
\nParts the daisies
\nOn a small Ontario farm.<\/p>\n

And where, in the curve of meadow,
\nLovers, touching, lie,
\nA church of grass stands up
\nAnd walls them, holy, in.<\/p>\n

Fabulous the insects
\nStud the air
\nOr walk on running water,
\nKlee-drawn saints
\nAnd bright as angels are.<\/p>\n

Honeysuckle here
\nIs more than bees can bear
\nAnd time turns pale
\nAnd stops to catch the breath
\nAnd lovers slip their flesh
\nAnd light as pollen
\nPlay on treble water
\nTill bodies reappear
\nAnd a shower of sun
\nTo dry their langour.<\/p>\n

Then two in one the lovers lie
\nAnd peel the skin of summer
\nWith their teeth
\nAnd suck its marrow from a kiss
\nSo charged with grace
\nThe tongue, all knowing
\nHolds the sap of June
\nAloof from seasons, flowing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…because we resurrect it. Well, nerds do. I will be reading Anne Wilkinson’s works at the Dead Poets Reading Series Sun, March 11 at the Vancouver Public Library at 3 PM.\u00a0 Thanks to Kevin Spenst, Diane Tucker and all the organizers of the series. “Anne Cochran Wilkinson (September 21, 1910 \u2013 May 10, 1961) was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5426,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions\/5426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}