I've just finished The Circle Game, one of Margaret Atwood's first books of poetry. I think I've read it once before but not recently, and I'm sure I skipped the introduction the first time because it really helped me mentally string the poems together. I think it's important in a book of poetry that the poems "speak to each other." I don't think a one-page poem can accomplish much on its own, which is maybe what makes lit journals so boring to read, despite their being full of great Canadian poets, because the poems are published individually. The introduction is written by Sherrill Grace who was once an English prof at UBC, my alma mater.
As usual with M.A. the content in a number of poems is a mystery to me--aside from a few cool images I'm mostly scratching my head and grumbling over and over "but what does it mean!" Some of them are concrete and straight forward though, the kind I love initially but then the meaning sneaks up on me in the last few lines and I love them more. And of course there are a few really cutting poems about dysfunctional relationships which are always my favourite. One great poem "Eventual Proteus" ends "my face flinches/under the sarcastic/tongues of your estranging/fingers,/the caustic remark of your kiss." Burn!!
But then there's another poem "Letters, Towards and Away" which I find romantic--I'd even call it a love poem. Romantic? Margaret Atwood? I know! I hate to "sum it up" but I would like to think it's about an emotionally closed woman (the speaker) who is opened up to the idea of love by another person (the "you" in the poem.) My favourite part: "but just by standing there and/being awkward/you force me to speak/love."
I'm headed out to the deck now to read some short stories by Alice Munro (from her new collection of selected stories Alice Munro's Best) which I'm enjoying quite a bit. BTW, I have the week off work and I'd like to find some good contemporary Canadian poetry to fill my time. Any suggestions?
