E.D. Blodgett

“What interests me in poetry is the interplay of language, the page, and silence. Heaven falls out of words because possibility is in the page, another kind of heaven; I wonder if that’s the only heaven we are given to know in life.” -- Edward Dickinson (Ted) BlodgettE.D. Blodgett’s final volume of poems, Walking Into God, is the culmination of the poet’s lifelong devotion to a poetry and poetics of the sacred. His mastery of craft, including cadence and sustained musicality, is unsurpassed in Canadian literature. Though this volume is divided into two parts (or sequences), these compressed poems present as a single long poem that explores the processes of walking, moving, changing, and evolving within a unified field.

Poetry. A bilingual collection of renga poetry by two of Canada's most celebrated poets in English and in French; each writing in his respective language in response to the other. A project of discourse itself; shared in dialogue between two poets; as they explore Novalis' definition of poetry as the truly absolute real. The poetic act is world-changing; the agglomeration of atoms as they fall through space--a sort of elective affinity; or state of grace--to constitute Being. If Lao Tzu reminds us that the Dao that can be named is not the eternal Dao; this renga; suffused with elements of the natural world; also recognizes that; in the words of Angelus Silesius; the unnameable; which we usually call God; is expressed and revealed through the Word. L (c)veill (c) and Bloggett share an unprecedented dialogue that possesses both paradox and complete clarity of word in Canada's two official languages.With poems that phase between mythologies; E.D. Blodgett and J.R. L (c)veill (c) lend their voices to a chorus of Orpheus; Bede; and Ariel. Ex Nihilo reflects a friendship between poets that ends at the moment of illumination; when figures of speech are taken literally as a dictionary.--Nathan Dueck

as if there could be no other memory a tree invisible remembering itself In as if, E.D. Blodgett takes readers on journeys of contemplation in which he re-imagines the lyric form. Each line leaves the reader breathless as it runs into the next to form a continuous cycle, a continued breath. The delicate syntax of each piece pushes one forward, ever forward. The poems are Dantesque, leading the traveller through a deeper, darker world. As a collection, as if constitutes an ars poetica of Blodgett's Apostrophes series. The poems explore the elements that make up the series-strict metrical patterns, the possibilities of breath, the endlessness and seamlessness of the spoken word, the incantation.

Apostrophe 1. Rhet. A figure of speech, by which a speaker or writer suddenly stops in his discourse, and turns to address pointedly some person or thing, either present or absent; an exclamatory address. (OED) Renowned poet E.D. Blodgett extends his lyrical meditations to the limits of human knowing in Apostrophes VII: Sleep, You, a Tree. By remaining true to the ancient trope of direct address, he is able to sustain the merest suggestion of the infinite complexity of the natural world beyond "You," and thereby impress his breathtaking vision. Via sumptuous imagery commanded by musical lines and understated language, readers are invited to partake in the greatest marvels that happen to be all around us, and accessible to us, every day.

Prompted by renowned poet E.D. Blodgett's deep love for and intimate experience of Prague, Praha is a poetic homage to the legendary city's vital spirit. As they build on one another, the poems in the collection lift the reader over the threshold of purely mythic understanding and into the heart of one of Europe's loveliest and most venerable cities. Each poem is accompanied by a translation into Czech, encouraging even those who do not know the language to immerse themselves in its sound. Superbly complemented by the mysteriously eloquent paintings of Czech artist Robert Kessner, Praha offers the moods of Prague in its many seasons and in all its magic.

Blodgett wrote his poems for a small park in English and some in French, but was able to have some of them translated into Cree, Michif, Chinese, and Ukrainian. This reflects Edmonton's unique multicultural ambience and the roles of diverse cultures in the making of the city.The powerful images and thoughtful metaphors in these short lyrics show readers the connections between Canadian nature (even within city limits) and the sublime, especially in the overwhelming silence we can sense outdoors – if we pay attention. The poet speaks to change by helping us see natural phenomena around us in a different light each time we read his poems.

A lament in light. A breath-taking memorial. Poetry and photography that compose the landscapes of remembrance. Once I saw your breath suspended in the air then I understood how fire could be white when I exhaled my breath followed yours into the sky that holds us both "Rich, profound, engaging, and written with an emotional depth rarely seen in much of contemporary poetry. There's a meditative virtuosity throughout this work, original and perceptive, alive with intelligence and compassion." Don Domanski

The literary history of a nation is one of the main cornerstones of its national identity. As a result of Canada's diverse cultural history, however, its literary history is varied and, as E.D. Blodgett contends, is composed of five parts that work to create the whole. These parts include English Canada, French Canada, First Nations communities, Inuit communities, and immigrant communities. Using the critical writing on constructing nationhood, E.D. Blodgett suggests that Canadian literary histories can be used to address the problem of nation and to examine how each of the several 'national' groups that compose Canada develops unique narratives that demonstrate their different responses to the notion of nationhood and their sense of place within Canada's borders. The first such history of its kind in Canada, Five-Part Invention offers a means of reading ethnic difference through cultural representations: the concentration on place and spatial configuration in English Canadian literature; the focus on time and history in French Canadian literature; the cultural trauma of the First Nations and Inuit literature; and the losses and ambiguous recoveries of ethnic minority writing. Blodgett concludes by addressing the roots of Canada's fragmented literary history and speculates on the reasons that this tradition continues today. Original, intelligent, and provocative, Five-Part Invention brings an entirely new perspective to the notion of literary history and will greatly influence the study of Canadian literature in the future.

E.D. Blodgett, winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry, returns to Apostrophes with a music passing through his eyes. His latest collection, open the grass, brings glimpses into eternity, visions of a translucent muse trickling through fingers, and places of silence, and darkness, and epiphany. Blodgett's poetry has the ability to penetrate the mundane with a profound aesthetic sense. His spare, strong words kick up pleasure in the eye and unforeseen recognition. These sixty-six poems open the natural world to embrace human passage.

An Ark of Koans is a meditation on the mystery of what happens at the moment it happens. Although it takes animals as its threshold, animals only serve as innocent guides toward fathoming, if not understanding, events as small, inconceivable miracles.

Governor-General's award-winning poet E.D. Blodgett continues his series of meditations on love, living, and loss. This intelligent collection offers more of Blodgett's lush imagery and deep questioning within the apostrophe form. A lovely offering from one of Canada's leading writers.

Here, in the second volume of a series, E.D. Blodgett extends the meditations of Apostrophes: woman at a piano, which won the Governor General's award for poetry in 1996. An astonishing hybrid of Symboliste vision and Elizabethan form, through you I is a lovely offering from one of Canada's leading writers.