Louis Riel: revolutionary, Métis hero … poet?

Hanged for treason in 1885 as a result of his part in the Northwest Rebellions, Louis Riel has seen an uptick in his reputation in the last 40 years or so. But it’s unlikely that most people would associate him with Canadian poetry, even though Riel was apparently a fairly prolific poet. According to an article entitled “The Political Poetry of Louis Riel: A Semiotic Study” by Glen Campbell (presumably not the singer), Riel “wrote a considerable amount of poetry in the form of fables, love poems, songs, letters in verse as well as political and religious compositions.”

This week, several of the handwritten poems he wrote in prison while awaiting execution will go on the auction block in Toronto.

According to the CBC:

The poems came to light after being held by descendants of North West Mounted Police Const. Robert Hobbs, who gave the Métis leader the writing pad in his jail cell shortly before his execution for treason.

In return, Riel gave the poems to Hobbs as a gift.

The poetry, which is expected to fetch upwards of $5,000, is of interest from an historical perspective, but is not likely to put the reputations of Robert Service or Duncan Campbell Scott into question. One of the poems to be auctioned off reads, in part:

Prophet of the new world, I
Do the work of the Most High.
I assert it with no pride.
I live in humility:
Is there any one to side
With me?

Although these lines could easily be mistaken for lyrics to a Stryper or Creed anthem, the poem is signed “Louis ‘David’ Riel.”

Prize-winning poet takes issue with prize’s namesake

Poet Shane Rhodes found himself in an awkward situation last weekend, after his collection The Bindery won the 2008 Lampman-Scott Award, given annually by Arc Poetry Magazine to a book of poetry by an Ottawa resident. Rhodes is currently at work on a new collection examining the effects of “assimilation” on Canada’s aboriginal peoples, and in his research he kept encountering references to one of the prize’s namesakes – Duncan Campbell Scott.

According to the CBC:

Scott [was a] local pioneer of Canadian poetry in the late 1800s [but] was also head of Indian Affairs for decades, and in that role, he promoted Canada’s residential school system as a way to assimilate aboriginal children.

In June, the federal government made a historic apology to aboriginal Canadians for the abuse suffered by some children at the schools and for the damage the schools caused to aboriginal culture, heritage and language. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called it a “sad chapter” in Canadian history.

Uncomfortable with the association, Rhodes decided to give away half of his $1,500 winnings – presumably only the “Scott” half, not the “Lampman” half – to a First Nations health centre.

“Taking that money wouldn’t have been right, with what I’m writing about,” said Rhodes.

Burmese poet arrested for “hidden message”

From The Guardian:

A Burmese author known for his love poetry has been arrested after penning a Valentine’s Day verse carrying a hidden message about the leader of the country’s military junta, Senior General Than Shwe.

The poet, Saw Wai, was arrested on Tuesday, a day after his poem “February 14″ was published in the popular weekly entertainment magazine A Chit, according to friends and colleagues who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The eight-line poem in Burmese is about a man broken-hearted after falling for a fashion model, whom he thanks for having taught him the meaning of love. But if read vertically, the first word of each line forms the phrase: “Power crazy Senior General Than Shwe.” Than Shwe, 74, who has headed the junta since 1992, has little tolerance for criticism. He keeps himself sequestered in his remote, newly built capital, Naypyitaw, deep in the country’s interior.

We sincerely hope that Saw Wai is freed soon.

(We must note, however, that this is yet more proof that Oulipian constraints are nothing but trouble with a capital T+7.)

Small Press Book Fair spat gets ugly

Last December, Quillblog noted a spat between Toronto Small Press Book Fair organizers Myna Wallin and Halli Villegas and one of the event’s founders, poet Stuart Ross. The controversy stemmed from comments posted by Ross on his blog criticizing Wallin and Villegas for poorly promoting the November event. The debate was then continued in various online forums, becoming increasingly personal and nasty.

According to a recent article on the website Reading Toronto, the disagreement has taken an even uglier turn, with Villegas and Wallin threatening legal action against Ross.

Wallin and Villegas allege that Ross has engaged in a campaign of “defamation of character and interference in our professional lives.” They also claim that Ross has conducted a “two-month campaign of personal and public harassment and defamation” and assert that he has done so “with clear intent to ruin our professional reputations.”

This information has come to light in a singularly unusual manner: it was made public by Wallin and Villegas themselves in a mass email to the Lexiconjury discussion group. Inevitably, their email has subsequently achieved a far wider circulation by being forwarded by various members of the group to parties beyond it.

The article is exhaustive and fleshes out some of the issues at play regarding free speech and community-building. And it illustrates how a whole lot of people are in a tizzy over the affair (just read the comments sections here and here). This bit, toward the end of the article, gives you a good sense of the escalating stakes in the debate:

In the absence of any substantiation of these very serious allegations, it is unclear how much Wallin and Villegas are demanding Ross recant, and how much control they now seek to dictate not only over his involvement in small press publishing and the Small Press Book Fair, but over his writing career – his blog, his widely read “Hunkamooga” column, his past and forthcoming poetry books and novel, his participation in literary events, his work as a literary editor and instructor, his collegial and personal relations – more broadly. Given the duration and extent of Wallin and Villegas’ campaign against Ross, it is unclear how much further they intend to go – or how Ross might respond upon provocation.

(Thanks to Bookninja for the link.)

Poetic justice?

The folks at Véhicule Press have posted a story from Wednesday’s Montreal Gazette on their web page, about a high-speed car chase that took place on the highway between Longueuil and Montreal and involved police and an Oldsmobile Cutlass. Though it’s not apparent from the story why Véhicule would want to post it, their reasons become clearer in the follow-up commentary:

While poet Asa Boxer was in Toronto on a Signal reading tour, his 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass was being pursued by police across the Champlain Bridge. It did not end well, and our hearts go out to Asa, who as of today will be using public transportation.

Apparently, some dude stole Boxer’s car, and the chase ended after the thief collided with an SQ Cruiser. The perp was arrested and charged for fleeing police and car theft.

All we could think after hearing this was: poets can afford cars?

New Yorker gets new poetry editor

According to The Guardian, the venerable but somewhat fusty New Yorker magazine has appointed a new poetry editor, for the first time in 20 years. The new guy is Irish-born Pulitzer-winner Paul Muldoon, who takes over from Alice Quinn starting this November.

The editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, explained that it was not only Muldoon’s skill as a prize-winning poet which had made him ideal for the post, but also his wider appreciation of contemporary poetry.

“It’s not just a matter of picking the best poet you can think of,” he told The New York Times. “It’s also somebody who would know how to be in touch with an enormous range of poets, and that narrows it down a little bit more. And also somebody who’s not in Alaska.”

Though new blood is surely a good thing, we have to ask: wouldn’t it have behooved Remnick to appoint a new cartoons editor first? Those things are godawful.

MtvU names first poet laureate

MtvU, a branch of MTV that broadcasts on 750 U.S. college campuses, announced this week that it has chosen its first poet laureate, The New York Times reports. And while names such as Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen spring to mind as poets already in the music world, mtvU chose John Ashbery, a celebrated 80-year-old poet who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror and continues to publish prolifically.

Excerpts of Ashbery’s poems will be shown in 18 promotional spots on the channel and its website (which will also have the full text of the poems).

Mr. Ashbery, who was the poet laureate of New York State from 2001 to 2003, was immediately receptive. “It seemed like it would be a chance to broaden the audience for poetry,” he said.

The poems used in the campaign span his career, and the spots are simple: on a white background, black text floats in to a sound like a crashing wave, appears on the screen for a minute, then floats away. From “Retro” (2005): “It’s really quite a thrill/When the moon rises over the hill/and you’ve gotten over someone/salty and mercurial, the only person you’ve ever loved.” From “Soonest Mended” (2000): “Barely tolerated, living on the margin/In our technological society, we are always having to be rescued.”

The station is also sponsoring a poetry contest for students. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa will select a winner, who will have a book published next year by HarperCollins as part of its national poetry series.

“We hope that we’ll help discover the next great poet that we’ll be talking about for years to come,” said Stephen K. Friedman, the general manager of mtvU….

Quillblog suggests keeping quiet about the fact that there is significantly less bling involved in being a poetry star than a rock star.

Obi-Wan reads The Waste Land

Jason B. Jones at Bookslut has kindly decided to share with us one of his most prized possession: an out-of-print audio recording of Alec Guiness reading T.S. Eliot poems.

What’s hilarious about the recording is listening to the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi reading The Waste Land. (When I started playing the tape at home, my 4-year-old cocked his head and asked, “What’s Ben Kenobi saying?”) [...] But what’s really splendid about the recording is hearing Eliot’s poems read by someone who knows how to act.

Jones includes an mp3 snippet from Guiness’ Waste Land reading, and a further snippet of Eliot himself reading from the same poem.

(Also, just for kicks, he includes a link to an old, nonsensical Wikipedia entry for The Waste Land, which appears to have since been altered.)

Lindsay Lohan’s “HOWL”

Because there is nothing more important going on in the world than the drunken, drugged-up antics of a talented young actress barely out of her teens, below is a version of Allen Ginsberg’s “HOWL,” adapted specially for Ms. Lohan. “I’ve seen the best actresses of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, drunk,/driving through the streets of Beverly Hills at dawn looking for a place to crash.”

Weirdly enough, or perhaps appropriately enough, it ends up being kind of sympathetic.

Friday fun, part 1: Clive James’ Schadenfreude song

It’s not new or anything, but Clive James’ poem “The Book of my Enemy Has Been Remaindered” is a Quillblog favourite that will undoubtedly resonate with anyone who works in the book biz.

The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy’s much-prized effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs.

Those are just the opening lines. The New York Times‘ book blog, Paper Cuts, has posted the poem in its entirety; the hook is Norton’s announcement that it will issue a retrospective collection of James’ poetry, to be called Opal Sunset, next year.