805 “ore Latest News Week 45 - Malea Lovitz presented by Bana Wolff Week 45 ~ zureen McCarthy presented by Sandy Shreve Week 45 - Steven Heighton presented by Jonfrno Lawson Week 45 - ting Layton presente by Keith Garebian ‘ick Thran on Brick Books’ Clasle Series and 40 Years of Publishing Upcoming Author Events cba Snadans os Sinaia sein 06 “een Marte Soul at Words O8 Aloud 12 in Durham, Ontario 7: 739m4- 92000 Michael Crummey launches Hare Light: rick Books Classics plus Brick Books 40th anniversary ary 10 View all events» Brick Books on Twitter Publishing New & Established "Weck 42 Den Guteridge prosentd by Both Whitney ~ Brick Books oe Canadian Posty Since 1975 Week 42 — Don Gutteridge presented by Beth Whitney ation of Canadian Petry ‘Tidings by Don Gutteridge Black Moss Press, 2015, Like the last solo cello recordings of Pablo Casals, Oon Gutteridge evokes a long life in poetry, as writer, friend, family man and keen observer of the worlds small wonders. Tidings, his latest volume of shor, Isic poems, isan evocative ttle fo a collection of minlatures: small portraits of loved ones, moments in childhood, elements in the education of a weiter. “Tidings are sometimes glad - as when to the shepherds below, “Gabriel blew his heraldic horn/ and let such tidings) ride his music tothe far/ Heavens that they kre in their hearts something 1 glorious had happened/ tothe word.” But tidings can also be bittersweet, home is what / the heart craves, and so /in God's good time J we hearken there, / braving the odds / whenever “The tides ofa life are constant themes in this volume of ruminations oa childhood, moments in the ves of loved ones, memories of friends, imaginings about absence and death. "When Ill no longer be, jthe world will while away / the hours with someane / other than me.” he writes, ‘wondering what will become of his “few scattered words" and ‘a handful of loved ones | touched | here and there over / the long years of my life.” [Although he Is captivated by the future exemplified by his granddaughters “bright, child / Ut mind,” and his grandson's football games 2s the players’ bodies “harbour the heroic / and ‘grapple for glory’ this isa volume of sweet reflections on the past. Childhood summers, spent “with no / thought that Time was whiting | down the days one / by ene” were Full of terror: ‘cannot pass the Great Lake of my childhood / without a nod and modicum / of shudder." But ‘they are tinted with summer warmth: “days slung between June / and September” with the sence (of freedom at being / abruptly sprung from the ‘schoolyard ina daze | of jubilant release.” ‘The words ofthese poems are simple, but the poetic language is vibrant. We hear the experience ‘of the poet's arandfather in wartime Belgium, “when the stuttering gunneries / loosed thelr havoc ‘upon / the poppy fields and ground / them to floundering muck...” We are with the poet "when ‘the morning sun / seasoned everything /Ittouched and made It glow /for my eyes only.” And often, a gentle and ironic twist to an ending phrase makes the words shimmer on the page: ‘ovioles ative in Api, "their perfect punctuality / and airy arias oddly /ceassuring ina world / otherwise random.” This is a volume to return to again and again, for solace, for poetic language, for appreciating brief limpses of moments ina lif. And while the poet, with his Beloved, feels he is “here, now) riding out our last days I for one, look forward toa future where Don Gutteridge continues “to make the unwliling/ world /aniculate.” To lesen more about Don Gureridge, please visit is website, Beth Whitney is a retired brarian from the London, ON public library system. She spends her retirement inher garden, working on weaving projects, and reading Don Gurteridge’s poetry. ‘tar trickbookscalweek-42-don-quiteridge-preserted-by-betintitney