folio : Barry McKinnon (1944-2023)

 

Barry McKinnon (1944-2023)
, edited by Jeremy Stewart and Donna Kane

Jeremy Stewart : Introduction : Something – for Barry McKinnon ;

 

Hope Anderson : Tribute ; Elizabeth Bachinsky : Three poems ; bill bissett : ths xcelent prson  k.darcy taylor  was driving me away ; Marilyn Bowering : Barry McKinnon ; Lary Bremner : heart in place  out of time for barry mckinnon ; Brian Hiram Coulter : There was this kid in band ; Pierre Coupey : a few words for barry ; Justin Foster : Caledonia ; Solomon Goudsward : On the Death of Barry McKinnon ; Donna Kane : Barry here ; GP Lainsbury : Phenomenology put to work in the Poetry of Barry McKinnon ; rob mclennan : I wanted to say something ; Matt Partyka : Out of the Blind World ; Graham Pearce : No Distance – Three Poems ; Al Rempel : Anecdotes ; Clea Roberts :What can be done, as if an answer / is possible? ; George Sipos : Tribute ; Jeremy Stewart : something (postscript for Barry McKinnon ; Paul Strickland : Tribute ; Red Shuttleworth : Tribute ; Sharon Thesen : A FEW WORDS FOR BARRY MCKINNON ; Simon Thompson : Tribute ; Michael Turner : Tribute ; Fred Wah : Bundling Barry ; Tom Wayman : Tribute ; Gillian Wigmore : Tribute ;

extras: John Harris : Barry McKinnon -- We Remember ; Paul E. Nelson: Barry McKinnon in ICU ; obituary by rob mclennan ; obituary by Paul E. Nelson ; obituary by Andrew Kurjata, CBC ; from the archives -- Remembering Barry McKinnon (1944-2023) by Cecil Giscombe, The Capilano Review ; Barry McKinnon's 2022 Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal] interview ; Barry McKinnon's website ; other tributes (from Barry's website ;

photos of Barry McKinnon throughout provided by Joy McKinnon ;
[except for photos provided by Simon Thompson + rob mclennan,

Pierre Coupey : a few words for barry

folio : Barry McKinnon (1944-2023)

 

 

 

 

who saw the carcasses of spring
when all of us were looking
for crocuses pretty flowers

plain & twisted speech
awkward stumbling true
even when crossed out

his emails always started
barry here
he was / still is

the subject & object
of his attention to his attention
to the world & work

of poetry

.

I’d like to give the last words here to barry, from an email dated august 5 2021

re. poetry and politics, I agree.  it was a central concern for anyone leaving the lyric behind (but not the urge to not keep a lyric sensibility (heart in it all.  no, I'm talking abt political dogma and propaganda - the poem made to fit the message.  this goes against anything I know.  I'll attach the belford contest to show you what I mean, and to show how these "poets" now think abt the world.  I hate this shit - the poem to perform a moral task.  go to church boys.  anyway, I've literally been cancelled without any explanation of such.  tho I did once make a joke abt looking like david suzuki.  you just never know what the fuck will throw these people off.  as I've sd before:  I've learned to be happy in the ditch for whatever view I have.  ok pierre keep in touch and hold tight to that cat!  ha ha.

And this, slightly altered, from his review of Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

 Her His fragments, silences, and unexpected clarities (while form & content fall apart) enter poetry’s timeless arc so its music be made new again.

PC / PG / 2024

 

 

 

Pierre Coupey was a founding co-editor of The Georgia Straight and founding editor of The Capilano Review. His work has received awards/grants/commissions, including grants from the Conseil des Arts du Québec, the Canada Council, and the BC Arts Council. He has published nine books of poetry/chapbooks/catalogues, and exhibited in Canada and abroad. His work is represented in private, corporate, university and public collections, including those of the Burnaby Art Gallery, Canada Council Art Bank, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery, and West Vancouver Art Museum, among others.  His work is represented by Gallery Jones in Vancouver.