Shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Trillium Book Award
Marooned in the shiftless, unnamed space between a map of the world and a world of false maps, the poems in Methodist Hatchet cling to what’s necessary from each, while attempting to sing their own bewilderment. Carolinian forest echoes back as construction cranes in an urban skyline. Second Life returns as wildlife, as childhood. Even the poem itself -- the idea of a poem -- as a unit of understanding is shadowed by a great unknowing.
Fearless in its language, its trajectories and frames of reference, Methodist Hatchet gazes upon the objects of its attention until they rattle and exude their auras of strangeness. It is this strangeness, this mysterious stillness, that is the big heart of Ken Babstock’s playful, fierce, intelligent book.
Shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Trillium Book Award
Marooned in the shiftless, unnamed space between a map of the world and a world of false maps, the poems in Methodist Hatchet cling to what’s necessary from each, while attempting to sing their own bewilderment. Carolinian forest echoes back as construction cranes in an urban skyline. Second Life returns as wildlife, as childhood. Even the poem itself -- the idea of a poem -- as a unit of understanding is shadowed by a great unknowing.
Fearless in its language, its trajectories and frames of reference, Methodist Hatchet gazes upon the objects of its attention until they rattle and exude their auras of strangeness. It is this strangeness, this mysterious stillness, that is the big heart of Ken Babstock’s playful, fierce, intelligent book.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Apr 30, 2011 |
| Specifications | 112 pages | 5.5 in x 8.5 in |
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| Written By | Ken Babstock is one of Canada's finest poets. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
| Written By |
| Ken Babstock is one of Canada's finest poets. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
Commended, Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, 2011
Winner, Griffin Poetry Prize, 2012
Short-listed, Trillium Book Award, 2012
Long-listed, ReLit Awards, 2012
“…an outstanding volume – plugged in, polished, complex, and delightful.” — Brian Palmu, SubTerrain