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.
