Poems for a Small Park

This collection by well-known Edmonton poet, E.D. Blodgett, is an ode to the wisdom and divinity of silence. The poet muses on the quiet of the outdoors and the mysterious relationship that exists between spaces of silence within a city’s limits.

Most of the short lyrics that make up this sublime collection were written first in English and French before being translated into Cree, Michif, Chinese, and Ukrainian to reflect Edmonton’s multicultural past and present. Together they form a composite view of the people and culture that inhabit the city’s natural spaces.

About the Author

E.D. Blodgett is professor emeritus of comparative literature at the University of Alberta, and once held the Louis Desrochers Chair in Études Canadiennes at its Campus Saint-Jean. He is the author of many books of poetry, two of which have won the Governor General’s Award, as well as Five-Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada. He was Edmonton’s Poet Laureate in 2007.

Reviews

E.D. Blodgett’s poems strive for stillness. The book reads like a meditation–a quiet moment in a yoga studies or a walk through the park at sunrise–refreshing, but also temporal.

Canadian Literature

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.