Happy Birthday to Ezra

Ezra Pound was born on this day in 1885. From Writer’s Almanac:

Pound was born within a few years of James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, D.H. Lawrence, Marianne Moore, Hilda Doolittle, and T.S. Eliot, and he was instrumental in promoting the careers of each one of these writers -- as well as many, many others. He was a champion of modern poetry and prose; Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair proclaimed that it was Ezra Pound “more than anyone who made poets write modern verse, editors publish it, and readers read it.” He was extraordinarily generous with his clout, often described as “the poet's poet.” Pound’s mantra was “Make it new.”

Pound died in Venice, two days after his 87th birthday. His legacy survives.

Canada’s “Melancholy bard” at 75

Last year the CBC described him as “Poet, musician, novelist, ladies' man, monk, actor.” Whatever you call him, though, it’s hard to believe that “Canada’s melancholy bard,” Leonard Cohen, will turn 75 later this month. It’s less difficult to understand that he won’t do it alone and it will all be done with great style.

Cohen will issue in his 75th year in his home town of Montreal at a birthday gala and silent auction. The event will be held on Monday, September 21st in the Atwater Library Auditorium, 1200 Atwater Avenue in Westmount/Montreal. Special guests will include David Seaman, Erica Ruth Kelly, Paris Elizabeth Sea, Michael Mirolla and other writers and poets. Tickets for the event are $75 and all proceeds will benefit the Leonard Cohen Poet-in-Residence program at Westmount High.

If you can’t wait for your Cohen fix -- or a trip to Montreal is out of the question even though Montréal in September is perfect -- several celebrations are being held across Canada to launch the book, You’re Our Man. In the collection, 75 of the world’s best poets reflect on the poetry of Leonard Cohen. A list of the contributing poets is here.

For more details on both the gala and various launches to be held to celebrate the publication of You’re Our Man, check the Public Poetry’s blog.

Selected Poems by Robert Bringhurst

A new book by Robert Bringhurst is always a noteworthy event. Bringhurst is an author, typographer, translator and award-winning poet and each of his books is a work of art on every level.

It seems to me there is something even more special about Selected Poems (Gaspereau Press), a single volume that brings together selections from several of Bringhurst’s collections including The Beauty of the Weapons and The Calling. It also includes a new series of poems called “The Living.”

The ear of language rests
On the breast of world,
Unable to know and unable to care
Whether it listens inward or outward.

Everything about Selected Poems is extraordinary. The first hint of it is in the plain black cover, no image. The title and the author’s name are printed in silver ink in a plain, serif font. This stark understatement is typical of Bringhurst. And the book’s deceptively simple production speaks volumes for the work itself. Just enough, always. A little less, perhaps, than another might give, but it’s the correct less. The right less. Somehow defining the work by what is not there as much as by what is.

Those who already enjoy Bringhurst’s work will want to add Selected Poems to their collections. And if you’ve never before encountered his sparse, elemental imagery will find this collection a perfect place to start.