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The second full-length collection from sonneteer and formalist poet Catherine Chandler, Glad and Sorry Seasons brings together new suites of poems—on grief, recovery, the deadly sins, and the virtues of faith, hope, and love—to meditate on those polarities of light and dark, joy and sorrow, that illuminate and cloud our lives by turn. With subjects ranging from Alzheimer’s to Edward Hopper’s Automat, in handsomely crafted stanzas and metres, and including translations from Québecois and Latin American poets, Glad and Sorry Seasons is a stunning and learned offering from a poet unmistakably committed to form.
Waiting
For the man in the Intensive Care Unit waiting room,
Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montréal, June 2012
Some nights I’ve seen
a slice of silver slink across this room
I now call home,
above my makeshift bed—a rickety chair
beside the snack machine.
Close by, the elevators whirr and beep.
I cannot, dare not, drift asleep,
let down my guard,
inviting shoulder taps, a whispered Sir,
or dreams of her
once-vivid eyes that stare & stare & stare,
dull, distant, hard.
Thus I will will her through another day.
Make crazy compromises. Pray.
"I'm still in awe of the sheer beauty of this sumptuous collection that looks and feels as if it had been born this way, rather than made at all! The book is a delight, full of humour and pain and wisdom. Cathy Chandler is a marvel."—Rhina P. Espaillat
"Extremely rewarding ... the voice of a natural poet. Metrical poetry comes as easily to her as plain speech does to others. It is her native tongue."—Angle
"Chandler boasts a strong collection of poetry that presents an argument for a return to older poetic forms to further explore the experiences of women and women writers in the present." Philip Miletic, Canadian Literature
Catherine Chandler's poetry, translations and essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies in North America, the U.K. and Australia. Winner of the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, she is the author of Lines of Flight (Able Muse Press, 2011), a collection of sonnets, This Sweet Order (White Violet Press, 2012) and two chapbooks. Glad and Sorry Seasons is her second full-length collection. Recently retired from McGill University where she lectured in the Department of Translation Studies, Catherine resides in Saint-Lazare, Quebec.
CONTENTS:
Part I: Give Sorrow Words
Coming to Terms
Two Poems of the Sea
I. The Dawning
II. To a Minor Goddess
The Flying Moment
Vinegar Tree
O
The Measure of Their Days
The Crag
Intervals
Part II: Driving Back Shadows
On a Line from Millay
A Fieldstone Fence
Haiku
The Ovenbird
Breva
Bequeathal
November
Winterbourne
Part III: The Oldest Sins
SALIGIA: Seven Deadly Sonnets:
I. Superbia
II. Acedia
III. Luxuria
IV. Invidia
V. Gula
VI. Ira
VII. Avaritia
Part IV: With Mirth and Laughter
Sonnet Love
The Bard
All These Words
A Mother’s Kyrielle
When
Prayer on December 26th
Rush Hour Sonondilla
She
In Retrospect
Part V: A Smack of All Neighbouring Languages
French: Romantisme québécois:
Pamphile Le May: My Childhood Home
Louis-Honoré Fréchette: Niagara
Louis Dantin: The Stars
Albert Lozeau: It’s Raining
Émile Nelligan: The Passerby
Spanish: Modernismo hispanoamericano:
María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira: The Mysterious Star
Delmira Agustini: The Wonderful Boat
Gabriela Mistral: The Sonnets of Death (I)
Alfonsina Storni: Inheritance
Juana de Ibarbourou: Rebel
Part VI: Glad and Sorry Seasons
The Lost Villages: Inundation Day
Upheavals
Heartwood
The Red Beads
Ragbag
Beach Dogs
Críonnacht
Waiting
Edward Hopper’s Automat
Notes