Robinson's Crossing

by Jan Zwicky

Overview

The poems in this book arise from Robinson’s Crossing — the place where the railway ends and European settlers arriving in northern Alberta had to cross the Pembina River and advance by wagon or on foot. How have we crossed into this country, with what violence and what blind love? Robinson’s Crossing enacts the pause at the frontier, where we reflect on the realities of colonial experience, but also on the nature of living here — on historical dwelling itself. In long meditative narratives and shorter probing lyrics, Jan Zwicky shows us-as she has in her celebrated Lyric Philosophy and the Governor General’s award-winning Songs for Relinquishing the Earth — how music means and meaning is musical.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926829128
Publisher:	Brick Books
Publication date:	09/15/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	84
File size:	361 KB

About the Author

Jan Zwicky has published nine collections of poetry, including Songs for Relinquishing the Earth, which won the Governor General’s Award, and, most recently, Forge. Her books of philosophy include Lyric Philosophy, Wisdom & Metaphor, and Alkibiades’ Love. Zwicky grew up on the prairies, was educated at the Universities of Calgary and Toronto, and currently lives on the west coast of Canada.

Editorial Reviews

" ... A kind of delicate recovery operation, vividly evoking the past but also puzzling out its impact on the present ... there's a subtle interplay between troubled poems that are about a loss of bearings, and sunny ones about feeling full of purpose and direction ... the end of the rail line at Robinson's Crossing is a beginning point for some challenging meditations on history, constancy, and change."—Barbara Carey, The Toronto Star

"This is a tremendously rewarding book ... what makes Robinson's Crossing, so successful is the degree to which it grounds its philosophical exploration in the intimate details of the body, of concrete, lived experience."—Adam Dickinson, The Malahat Review

"These poems are finely tuned to the intricacies of space and language ... [they] combine personal history and a complex understanding of the colonial experience."—Gillian Jerome, Canadian Literature

"The emotionally rich Robinson's Crossing carries a haunting melody that remains with the reader long after the book is put down."—Paul Tyler, Arc Poetry Magazine

From the Publisher