Tom Mandel

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First reading of Sawako Nakayasu's 'Couch' (4)

Hank Lazer

Is a first reading possible? Perhaps a quick reading, or a reading on the fly… Inevitably, even my quick reading has a trail – from learning to read (“sound it out”), to habits learned in school (close reading; theme-based reading; the ongoing baggage of New Criticism), to the informed readings we are expected to practice in essays and reviews. There are plenty of other theoretical, historical, and cultural frameworks that (for me) might become a part of subsequent readings. In this reading, what I mean by a first reading is one that does not reach much beyond my initial impressions and thoughts. Or, another way to think of a first reading is (ideally) a radical empiricism, or a reading that moves in the direction of beginner’s mind.

February 1, 2015

A short interview with Armand Garnet Ruffo

rob mclennan

Armand Garnet Ruffo was born in Chapleau, northern Ontario, with roots to the Sagamok Ojibwe First Nation and the Chapleau Fox Lake Cree First Nation. Ruffo’s first collection of poetry, Opening In The Sky (1994), reveals an abiding interest in the complexities of Aboriginal identity in a multi-cultural society.

January 31, 2015

David McGimpsey: Three new poems

rob mclennan

Montreal writer and musician David McGimpsey has been the author, for about 20 years now, of what he calls “chubby sonnets,” each sonnet consisting of sixteen metred lines instead of the usual fourteen. The author of a critical study on baseball writing and a collection of short stories as well as five poetry collections—Lardcake (ECW Press, 1996), Dogboy (ECW Press, 1998),

January 29, 2015