Hosted by Carmine Starnino. Mark it down and spread the word. The event serves as the Canadian launch for Norm Sibum's Smoke & Lilacs, the first reading since Zach Wells was shortlisted for the Atlantic Poetry Prize earlier this week (more on this later) for Track & Trace, and the first Montreal reading since Robyn Sarah's wonderful launch at the Word for Pause for Breath back in October.
Biblioasis will be distributing Norm Sibum's Smoke and Lilacs in Canada this Spring. Published in the UK by Carcanet, it may very well be Norm's best collection. Originally set for publication in Canada by Fitzhenry and Whiteside, it was a casualty when they cut their poetry program early last year, and has not seen Canadian distribution as a result. We're quite chuffed to have it. Should you like to order a copy, please put in an order with your local bookseller or contact us directly. We'll get you off a copy as soon as we receive them.
From Sibum's Smoke and Lilacs, the opening poem, 'From Propertius with Love':
Oh the days are inconstant, rich in betrayal, my language expert In all-night kisses and your bad temper. What shall I make now Of your lip, the sudden thundershower Squalling across the gardens of Lucullus? Sap that I am, optimist, I write you verse declaring my love After I catch you at it, a swindler plying your buttocks. 'Looking for something?' you hiss. I am. Order in the cosmos. A little trust. I want, oh I don't know, the bliss to which I'm accustomed. And I'm always in the market for a state With a benign and friendly face.
