Hymnswitch - Softcover

Ali Blythe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 177310070X ISBN 13: 9781773100708

Publisher: icehouse poetry, 2019

Synopsis

<p><b>Shortlisted, Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize</b></p><p><i>Standing in the granite of his own voice.<br>Remembering your gathering body.</i></p><p>Hello, My Forever Ago, don&#39;t worry,<br>you won&#39;t be reading this much longer.<br><br>You will have already returned<br>in a snowcloud, which is suggestively,<br><br>fashionably, only ever one second old.<br><i>Yes, Darling, it&#39;s me</i>, it says<br><br>as proof that in space<br>though there are many silences,<br><br><i>fleeting</i> isn&#39;t the opposite<br>of <i>infinite</i>, but its perfect match.</p><p>Four years ago, Ali Blythe arrived with <i>Twoism</i>, a remarkable debut collection, every line shimmering with life and shivering with erotically charged glimpses of completeness. Now in <i>Hymnswitch</i>, Blythe takes up the themes of identity and the body once again, this time casting an eye backwards and forwards, visiting places of recovery and wrestling with the transition into one&#39;s own skin. Readers will find themselves holding their breath at the risk and beauty and difficulty of the balance Blythe strikes in the midst of ineffable complexity.</p><p>Combining a stark, tensile precision with musicality that lulls and surprises, Blythe, a surreal engineer of language, has once again created an unusually memorable collection. Imbued with emotional awareness, these stunning poems will imprint readers with startling images and silences as potent as words.</p>

About this title

About the Author

Ali Blythe is the author of two critically acclaimed poetry collections exploring trans-poetics. About Blythe, Stewart Cole writes, “It’s exciting to see a writer so conscious of building a body of work within and across collections, pursuing not just a set of ideas and concerns but an artistic vision.”

Blythe has held roles as a guest editor of special editions of literary magazines including for The League of Canadian Poets, Arc Magazine, and Malahat Review, and as editor-in-chief for the Claremont Review, an international literary magazine for youth. His poems and essays have been published in national and international literary journals and anthologies, including The Broadview Introduction to Literature, Best Canadian Essays, and Best Canadian Poetry.

Edition details

• Publisher: icehouse poetry
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 177310070X
• ISBN 13: 9781773100708
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 72