Patrick
Pilarski's small poems, or meditations, in his first collection Huge Blue leave monumental footfalls in
recording the various terrains of western Canada. In the tradition of Japanese poetry--haiku,
haibun, tanka and senryu--the crisp and condensed images embody a larger
experience and draw the reader into a heightened intimate moment. Pilarski uses these forms to capture his
relationship with the natural world. The
poems are placed like small stepping stones across the varying landscapes, and
mark the resting points where the poet reflects on the journey's highlights
with his travel companion. In Pilarski's use of the tanka prose and
haibun form, there is a sprinkling of humour or surprise in the normalcy of
everyday actions or reactions to the unfolding of the speaker's
surroundings. For instance, in the poem
"Last Load", the speaker comments on the adjustments to a new
environment after a long journey and how his partner suddenly remembers 'the box
of handmade pottery above the stove'.
There is a sense of restlessness in an otherwise state of exhaustion;
something random and contrast.
The
poems also reflect on the seasons, and how the weather and natural landscapes
are parallel to how the poet moves through his emotions in these changing
landscapes. Nature is also personified,
as witnessed in the lines: two
mountains/ cross-legged in the valley/ watching the storm/ one pulls the
screen, changes/ into its best white gown.
Pilarski focuses on the seemingly small, yet miraculous happenings in
the natural world. The use of the
Japanese poetic form is appropriate to record these snapshots of time and
place, and to share these personal experiences on a global plane.
Pilarski
will be reading from this collection at the Black Stilt Cafe's Planet Earth
Poetry series on February 12th at 7:30pm.
$3.00 cover. Huge Blue is published by leaf press. For more information, visit www.leafpress.ca.
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