“Green, is a beautiful book! The sensory affection of Marilyn Bowering’s words make each poem glow. The intelligence of heart, mind and body are merged throughout with emotional depth and a rare meditative sensibility. This is wise, tenderly cadenced work, exquisitely drawn and evocative. The linguistic grace of these poems simmers with the authority of love and the synaptic reach of redemption that keeps the art alive. It was a joy to read.”
—Don Domanski
In Green, Marilyn Bowering addresses her physical and metaphysical worlds in conversations that move from the most intimate expressions of longing to the political. Her love of Lorca and Ritsos and Rumi and the years she spent in Spain have seeped into the frames of her poetry, adding another colour to the interplay of form and improvisation that is her canvas. The poems are variations of classical themes and traditions but are driven by the immediacy of family, love and death. Coats, rooms, cars, cups, bees and finally the rose are all part of the dive into the sources of Green.
Exile Editions 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1-55096-094-5
ISBN-10: 1-55096-094-6
What remains of the wood?
Ash.
What remains of the river?
Stone.
What remains of the night?
Dark.
Oh gateway—who is at the entrance?
Oh gateway—who holds the door?
The night is a black bird
on the rooftop,
a button in its beak,
under a clear sky.
For the rooftop
there is no gate,
for the river
there is no depth,
for the star
there is no darkness.
I crouch over this paper,
the wind flames it in my hand,
its ink is a black wave
that sands a shore.
How you lie, hand and foot
bound with a thread.
before the tide.
How long will you wait
to untie your hands
and read?