Description
Dancing, with Mirrors is George Amabile's 'lyrical retrospective', a thoughtful fragmentation and re-arrangement of his personal history. These eleven 'cantos' tumble into and over each other in a rush of passion, memory, devastation, and quiet moments that promise renewal; here, Amabile's talent for sounding the complex depths of everyday life shines like a beacon.
About the author
George Amabile has published his poetry, fiction and non-fiction in the USA, Canada, Europe, England, Wales, South America, Australia and New Zealand in over a hundred anthologies, magazines, journals and periodicals including The New Yorker, The New Yorker Book of Poems, Harper's, Poetry (Chicago), American Poetry Review, Botteghe Oscure, The Globe and Mail, The Malahat Review, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, Saturday Night, Poetry Australia, Sur (Buenos Aires), Poetry Canada Review, Canadian Literature, and Margin (England).
He was Writer in Residence at University of British Columbia for 1969-70, co-founder and editor of The Far Point, founder and editor of Northern Light, has edited a dozen titles for Nuage Editions, Signature Editions, Penguin and has published eight books. The Presence of Fire (McClelland & Stewart, 1982), won the CAA National Prize for literature; his long poem, Durée, placed third in the CBC Literary Competition for 1991; 'Popular Crime' won first prize in the Sidney Booktown International Poetry Contest in February, 2000; 'Road to the Sky' received an honorable mention National Magazine Award for 2000, 'What We Take with Us, Going Away' was shortlisted for the CBC Literary Prize in 2003 and he is the subject of a special issue of Prairie Fire, (Vol. 21, No. 1, May 2000). From October 2000 to April 2001 he was Writer in Residence at the Winnipeg Public library.
'Dimuendo' was awarded third prize in the Petra Kenney International Poetry Competition for 2005 and 'A Raft of Lilies' won second place in the MAC national poetry contest, 'Friends' (2007). He has performed his poems on the CBC, at numerous venues in Canada and the USA, and at the Olympics in Montreal.
His most recent publications are Dancing, with Mirrors (Porcupine's Quill, 2011), Tasting the Dark: New and Selected Poems (The Muses Company, an imprint of Gordon J. Shillingford Publishing, 2001), and Rumours of Paradise / Rumours of War (McClelland and Stewart, 1995).
Awards
- Short-listed, McNally Robinson Book of the Year
- Winner, F G Bressani Prize (Poetry)
Excerpt: Dancing, with Mirrors (by (author) George Amabile)
Transit in Absentia
. . . . . .
6.
A fuzzy half-moon hangs from the bruised night.
It looks as though it has become infected
with some as yet uncatalogued fungus, tenacious
as angelhair. It has lost its place
in the old stories -- Astarte, Nanna,
His-wang-mu, or the Mexican Trickster
Conejo -- and must be content
with its role as pock-marked veteran
of obscure plagues and wars,
the unearthly darkness packed like grease
around a bearing
that won't hold up much longer.
7.
And all the while they were imagining
soft landings, the night sky,
the moon a pearl among diamonds,
the empty sleeves
of the sea.
Later, they abandoned each other
to ambivalent shade, breathing
shallow afternoons and closing the books
they had leafed through as a hedge against boredom.
It was enough to dream with half closed eyes,
to speak in fragments, in a vernacular
conditioned by boutiques and cafes.
Pods ripen and fall.
They gather their towels and cups,
their headbands, their unread mail,
and that is all they have time for
under cliffs with their fossil records
lying carelessly open,
a rough Braille in the decaying light.
8.
The big boat shudders and hums.
Light sparkles under a thin haze.
As the stern
veers
and steadies,
blue hills drift away. The gulls
adjust. The air-vent grills
quiver and blur, and the waves,
slate grey like the backs
of the gulls, change
textures: chipped
stone like a primitive ax-head,
hammered lead,
burred steel and a cross-hatch
of loosely woven linen...
The breeze dies. The sea is a mirror
filled with nothing but time.
. . . . . .
Editorial Reviews
'Poetry can be an intimate affair, if the poet is willing to let down defenses and share every fear and insecurity, as well as triumphs and tribulations, with the reader. In Dancing, with Mirrors, George Amabile does so boldly and beautifully, in eleven cantos that invite the reader to share his experience of the world.
'George Amabile is an accomplished writer, having published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in several countries and in hundreds of anthologies, magazines, and journals. He has published eight books and won a number of prizes for his work, including the CAA National Prize for literature in 1982 for The Presence of Fire.
'With such credentials, it's no surprise that the words in Dancing, with Mirrors flow and dance like waterfalls cascading over the reader's perceptions. Amabile's first lines are as compelling as those of any fine novel, hooking the reader for the lengthy meditations that follow. Though the subjects of the cantos are sometimes vastly different, the constant of Amabile's poetic eye carries them seamlessly together. His is a magnifying glass-like analytical vision balanced with a wider, lyrical temperament, and it's a heady combination.
'The title poem tracks the relationship between the author and a younger woman, from their initial meeting through her pregnancy and the birth of their son. ''What We Take with Us, Going Away'' is a moving reflection on the death of Amabile's brother as a child. On every page, Amabile offers metaphors and similes that leave the reader looking at common sights in a new light. He compares morning traffic to herds of wild beasts, and sets a scene where ''the faint, nearly transparent moon has a shocked face / like the ghost of an infant ripped from its mother / 's breast in a storm.''
'Amabile's technique of carrying over into another line an ''apostrophe-es'' or other pieces of words or sentences introduces interesting double meanings, like a sentence that's been split, diagram-style, with two possible endings, and many possible interpretations.
'Amabile's imagery is so rich that it's easy to see through his eyes, even when the main action is subtle or internal: ''Once, in Rome, I watched a fountain gather the shades / and values / of a Tintoretto dusk into gorgeous foam, a moment so / full it felt / as though my life had completed itself.''
'Amabile's work in Dancing, with Mirrors is impressive by any measure, but even moreso when considered among other books of poetry. Many modern poets shy away from longer works, but Amabile combines the succinct power of poetry with the scope and scale of longer forms. The result is a highly recommended, highly enjoyable example of a master at work.'
ForeWord Reviews
'A confident polish, thoughfulness, charm, consistency and a rare good sense.'
Kristjana Gunnars
'A remarkable writer, Amabile provides us with a key to a larger understanding of the male ethos, something few male writers have attempted to do with such openness and honesty.'
Patrick Lane
'Just as with Rembrandt's self-portraits over the course of his painting career, so it is with Amabile: it is the continuity within change that is fascinating, the way a certain development could not actually have been predicted but, once there, feels natural, selfevident.'
Christopher Levenson
'Well crafted cantos [give Amabile's] form a unique blend of almost epic poetry, ''Dancing, with Mirrors'' is a fine assortment and much recommended for poetry collections, particularly those with a focus on Canada.'
Midwest Book Review
?In choosing to share his life, George Amabile has crafted beautifully detailed settings in which characters and conflicts are brought to life through rich imagery. He has woven the moments of everyday life into a rich tapestry of observation and deep emotion, highlighting both the fallibility and purity of memory.?
Prairie Fire Review of Books
'Amabile is a well-established poet in firm possession of his own voice.'
Stephen Scobie
'Throughout this collection the reader is invited to share in the very personal ethos of one man, George Amabile, through his elegant and extraordinary verse.'
FreeFallMagazine
'Celebration and amazement are sustained by a harmonious balance of thought.'
Manuel de Jesus Valasquez Leon
'These poems, surprising in their unaccustomed spaciousness, may open up new spaces in our minds and hearts.'
The Fiddlehead
