Paul Vermeersch is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Between the Walls (McClelland & Stewart, 2005). He lives in Toronto.
Elegy for Paul Winchell
Which is more alive? A tiger at its kill,
or a child's plush tiger, or a child's plush tiger
in a storybook, or a illustration
of a child's plush tiger in a storybook?
"Why, I am, of course," says an illustration
of a child's plush tiger in a storybook.
Can one improve on the love of Geppetto?
Can one succeed where the Great Oz failed?
Which is more alive? A heart that aches
and races, or an artificial heart?
"They are equal," says the little
wooden man. "They are equal."
Canadians have an odd relationship to the U.S. We define ourselves against them, first of all. Many of us in urban centres find guns appalling, our history is closer to compromise than conflict, possibly born out of the need to accommodate both French and English, and the same need has introduced a greater love -- at least in theory -- of diversity, and a recognition diversity is a strength, not a weakness. There is a distinct Canadian identity that Canadians...continue reading
Your second collection of poems, The Cold Panes of Surfaces, is out now. Your first book, Bonfires, won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award in 2004. Did winning a national award for your first book bolster your artistic confidence while working on your second, or did you find it daunting, as though you had more to live up to than other poets working on a second collection?
I think it certainly gave me a boost of confidence and the permission I needed to do what I wanted to do artistically with the second book. I didn't feel any outside pressure because of winning the CAA award, or feel that I had any expectations to live up to. Winning the award was terrific, and it was good publicity, but it was also an education on how fleeting such praise can be, and how it leaves your writing life virtually...continue reading