Poems of P.K. Page Read in Week #2

In our second session we read a poet new to us, P.K. (Patricia Kathleen) Page, a Canadian author of some 30 books, as well as an artist whose work hangs in the National Gallery of Canada. Her poetry is praised for "wit, wisdom, moral sensibility and a passionate yet objective view of human nature and relationships." We particularly enjoyed "The Selves" and "Funeral Mass," which reminded us of a poem by Jane Kenyon but took on also the broader topic of "the sacred light of the church."

The full quotation I had meant to read spoke of her as "talented, privileged, outwardly sturdy and elegant, inwardly delicate and searching."

Appetites for Poetry Whetted in Week #1

Our Spring term began with poems related to cooking. In Paul Violi's "Counterman" we saw that a very funny poem can also make serious points about listening and communicating. We explored the question of how many voices we hear in the poem, and we see Violi's knowledge of architecture used to make a comic and perhaps social point. Next!

David Baker, whose "Never-Ending Birds" we had enjoyed in a previous term, conveys a strong sense of time in talking about a relationship, a period in one's life, about memory and nostalgia--language remains.

In Session #2 we will take up the work of the Canadian poet P.K. Page.

Links for further reading:

Paul Violi obit from New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/books/paul-violi-poet-dies-at-66.html?_r=0