Panicle

Gillian Sze

• Publisher: ECW Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781773051048
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Poetry
• Index: Literature

"Succulent in its excellence, Sze's poetry insists that cultural 'difference' is what can make a beautiful difference in our apprehension of the 'beautiful.'" — George Elliott Clarke on Peeling Rambutan

In Panicle, Gillian Sze makes her readers look and, more importantly, look again. It's a collection that challenges our notion of seeing as a passive or automatic activity by asking us to question the process of looking. The book's first section, "Underway, " deals with the moving image and includes both poetic responses to film theory and lyrical long poems while also reimagining fairy tales. The next section, "Stagings, " takes its inspiration from the still image and explores a wide range of periods, movements, and media. Sze's focus on the process of looking anticipates "Guillemets, " a creative translation of Roland Giguère's 1966 chapbook, Pouvoir du Noir, which contains a series of poems accompanied by his own paintings. Sze's approach to Giguère is two-fold: she "translates" his text, and artist Jessica Hiemstra provides a visual response to her translation. The final section, "Panicle, " continues the meditative quality of "Guillemets" in a suite of poems that ruminate on nature, desire, and history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• I — Underway
• II — Stagings
• III — Guillemets
• IV — Panicle
• Notes
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Copyright