Diana Hartog

Sat out this afternoon on the little back deck, overlooking the trees that lead down to the lake, and read the entirety of Diana Hartog's 1982 collection, Matinee Light. It was her first book of poetry, put through Coach House Press by bpNichol. And it's really fantastic: sometimes hilarious, sometimes surreal, sometimes pastoral, and sometimes sensual. And sometimes mixtures of those qualities.

It was really nice reading it here in the Kootenays, where I imagine some of it was written. It's a scritchy, worn copy I found in a used bookstore in Nakusp. And it makes me think of all the great poetry books that go out of print and nearly disappear: like David McFadden's A Poet's Progress (to make another Coach House title), or Tom Walmsley's Lexington Hero, or Elaine Equi's Shrew Crazy.

I mean, of course there are zillions of terrible poetry books that are out of print, but there's some great stuff, too.

Hey, is this one of these half-baked thoughts that Mark Truscott recently alluded to when discussing the value of blogging?

I think it is!

Man, I'm going to lose so many blog readers today.

Over and out.