Your Last Day on Earth - Softcover

Hartsfield, Carla

4.2

5 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1894078314 ISBN 13: 9781894078313

Publisher: Brick Books, 2003

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Carla Hartsfield sings praises to the unusual: a rose blooming in December; an angel dancing on a cardiologist's scanner; Glenn Gould playing Brahms at Angelo's Garage. But these are common occurrences in Your Last Day on Earth, the everyday world and the metaphysical realm sharing the same ecstatic poem. Hartsfield transforms the contents of her psyche into music that we can all hear, the kind that replays for days in the dark, dreamy parts of our selves.

"She was here inside the purple-eyed daisies
and honeysuckle lining the fence --

arriving seconds after visiting the moon,
her starched, white dress

cascading from frothy clouds --
but even more white like the light that is said to emanate from reverence.

-- from "Nightshine"

"Carla Hartsfield is, like a figure in one of these vivid poems, 'a charming pyromaniac.' Under her magnifying glass, the world bristles into smoke: the 'starched hexagons' of Queen Anne's Lace 'quiver with cocaine bloom' and water drops become 'diamonds' on the speaker's skin when she plays Bach naked after a shower. Sometimes these fires liberate, sometimes they celebrate, sometimes they memorialize, and always they transform." - Stephanie Bolster

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About the Author:

Barry Dempster was born in Scarborough, Ontario, and was educated in child psychology. He has worked at both the Children's Aid and the Queen Street Mental Health Centre in Toronto. For six years, he was poetry and reviews editor for the "Poetry Canada Review". Currently, he works as an editor for Brick Books. He and his wife, Karen, live in Holland Landing, Ontario, where he runs a film series and two book groups. He has published eight collections of poetry, three works of fiction and one children's book.

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