Time's covenant : selected poems / Eric Ormsby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ormsby, Eric L. (Eric Linn), 1941-

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

286 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Windsor, Ont. : Biblioasis, 2006.

Summary:

Bringing together all of the poems from Eric Ormsby's five previous collections alongside a healthy selection of previously unpublished poems, this volume collects the work of one of the most important poets writing today in Canada - or elsewhere. Beautifully crafted, both complex and delicate, intelligent, sensuous and playful, these are poems to return to repeatedly.

Contents:

Bavarian Shrine and other poems (1990)

Starfish 17

Lazarus in Skins 18

Railyard in Winter 19

Bavarian Shrine 20

Forgetful Lazarus 22

Cover the Statues 23

Lazarus and Basements 24

Fetish 25

Lazarus in Sumatra 27

Rites de Passage 28

Lazarus Listens 29

Skunk Cabbage 30

Foundry 31

Moths at Nightfall 32

Precious Vials 33

Wood Fungus 35

Bee Balm 36

Lichens 37

Spiders 38

Statues and Mannequins 40

December 45

Craneworld 46

River Plants 47

1 White Waterlilies 47

2 Bullhead Lily 48

3 Pickerelweed 49

Conch-Shell 50

Fingernails 52

Ears 53

Nose 55

My Mother in Old Age 56

Coastlines (1992)

1 A Florida Childhood

Horseshoe Crab 59

My First Beach 60

Remembrance 62

Adages of a Grandmother 63

Grackle 65

A Florida Childhood 66

Live Oak, with Bromeliads 67

Fragrances 68

Florida Bay 69

2 The Way North

Highway Grasses 72

Savannahs 73

Cellar 74

Mullein 75

Childhood House 77

Old Photographs of Children 78

Garter Snake 79

Of Paradise as a Garden 80

The Courtesy of Old Oblivion 81

Halifax 82

The Public Gardens 83

Railway Stanzas 86

Grasses in November 88

Getting Ready for the Night 89

Nova Scotia 90

For A Modest God (1997)

Quark Fog 95

Gazing at Waves 97

What It Is Like To Be A Bat 99

The Ant Lion 100

An Oak Skinned by Lightning 101

Rooster 102

A Crow at Morning 104

Flamingos 105

Anhinga 107

Turtle's Skull 108

Coastlines 109

Mutanabbi in Exile 112

Mutanabbi Praises the Prince 114

Mutanabbi Remembers his Father 115

The Caliph 117

Origins 119

Gravediggers' April 120

Hand-Painted China 122

Spider Silk 123

The Suitors of my Grandmother's Youth 124

The Gossip of the Fire 125

Finding a Portrait of the Rugby Colonists, my Ancestors among them 126

For a Modest God 127

Rain in Childhood 128

Baudelaire to Mme. Aupick at Honfleur (1867) 130

Salle des Martyrs 132

Blood 133

Hate 135

Amber 136

History 137

Araby (2001)

Jaham's Poetic Manifesto 141

The Father of Clouds

Jaham in the Autumn Rains 143

Bald Adham 144

Bald Adham Says his Prayers 146

Jaham Divines 147

An Old Poet Bites 148

Jaham on the Conquests of Childhood 149

Jaham and His Cat 150

Jaham Serenades a Snake 151

The Baboons of Hada 153

The Egyptian Vulture 155

At the Ruins of Recollecton

Bald Adham and Black Mary 157

Adham Sings of Internal Combustion 158

Love Among the Dunes 159

Jaham Deciphers the Script of Insomnia 160

Mrs. Jaham 161

Bald Adham Falls into Heresy 162

Adham Overhauls an Old Caprice 163

Hubble-Bubble 165

The Jinn 166

Jaham Sings of the Fear of the Moon 167

Jaham's Dream Camel 168

Jaham Travels West to Khemisset Oasis 169

At the Ruins of Recollection 170

Last Things

Ramadan 173

Jaham Praises 174

Jaham on the Difficult Beauty of the First White Hair 175

Caliph of Confusion 176

A Duet with the Wolf 177

Adham Atones 179

The Sweat of Adham 180

Adham in the Torments of the Tomb 181

Jaham Curses 184

Allah Answers Jaham in the Days of Dust 185

Jaham Says Adham's Beads 187

The Junkyard Vision of Jaham 188

Jaham Plans for the Disposal of his Remains 189

Jaham's Last Words 190

Daybreak at the Straits (2004)

The Jewel Box 193

What the Snow Was Not 195

Another Thing 196

Ant-Lion 197

Dicie Fletcher 199

A Fragrance of Time 203

Childhood Pieties 204

Two Views of My Grandfather's Courting Letters 205

Cremains 207

Little Auguries 208

Mrs. Lazarus 210

Cradle-Song of the Emperor Penguins 211

Rowing into the Glades 212

White Phalaenopsis 214

A Salt Marsh near Truro 215

Daybreak at the Straits 216

A Freshly Whitewashed Room 218

Watchdog and Rooster 221

Episode with a Potato 222

Song for an Ironing Board 223

The Song of the Whisk 224

Time as Escargot 225

Vacuum Pantoum 226

The Gorgon in the Urn 227

A Dachshund in Bohemia 228

An Epistle from Rice Point 229

Our Spiders 231

Six Sonnets on Sex and Death 233

Microcosm 239

My Grandfather's Pocket Watch 240

Lines Written after Reading Thomas a Kempis 242

Uncollected Poems (1958-2006)

After Becquer 245

Big Toe 246

A House in Winter 247

Milkweed 248

Two Songs of a Jug-Eared Dwarf

Murderous Roundel 249

Against Death 250

To a Bird in Winter 252

Time's Covenant

The Founding of Covenant 259

The Landscape of Covenant 261

The Crossing 263

Master of the Covenant 266

Albert Milmow's Letters Home 268

Mr. Holgrove, Daguerrotypist 270

James and Virginie: My Great-Grandparents in Daguerrotype 272

"True Manliness" 274

Two Private Prayers of the Rev. Blacklock 276

Eden in Sepia 277

Time's Covenant (2006) 279.

Notes:

"This selection contains the five books of poems I have published to date together with a smaller assortment of new and uncollected poems from books still in progress."--Preface.

ISBN:

1897231202

9781897231203

1897231210

9781897231210

OCLC:

71288156