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    Astatine
    Astatine
    Astatine
    Ebook120 pages34 minutes

    Astatine

    By Michael Kenyon

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Astatine is an Italian girl, who like Dante's Beatrice, haunts the narrator of Michael Kenyon's incandescent fourth book of poetry. Named after a radioactive element whose isotopes endure half-lives of mere seconds, she is simultaneously a disappearing and abiding presence who cajoles and comforts, who questions and points, who often leaves the poet puzzled, electrified, heart-broken, and wanting more. Astatine is Kenyon's meditation on the evanescent and persevering tragedy of our lives on Earth. He takes us on an inspirational journey through time that embraces all we are born to and must too soon let go of, even as we make peace with the ever-changing fortunes of existence, even as we come upon unexpected joy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrick Books
    Release dateFeb 6, 2015
    ISBN9781771313940
    Astatine
    Author

    Michael Kenyon

    Michael Kenyon is the author of numerous poetry collections and novels. His novel The Beautiful Children won the 2010 ReLit Award, and his work has been shortlisted for The Commonwealth Writers Prize and the National Magazine Awards. He divides his time between Vancouver and Pender Island, having in both places a therapeutic practice. 

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      Book preview

      Astatine - Michael Kenyon

      Also by Michael Kenyon

      FICTION

      Kleinberg (Oolichan Books)

      Pinocchio’s Wife (Oberon)

      Durable Tumblers (Oolichan Books)

      The Biggest Animals (Thistledown Press)

      The Beautiful Children (Thistledown Press)

      A Year at River Mountain (Thistledown Press)

      Parallel Rivers (Thistledown Press)

      POETRY

      Rack of Lamb (Brick Books)

      The Sutler (Brick Books)

      The Last House (Brick Books)

      CHAPBOOKS

      Winter Wedding (Reference West)

      Twig (Outlaw Editions)

      Broad Street Blues (Outlaw Editions)

      MICHAEL KENYON

      BRICK BOOKS

      BRICK BOOKS · 431 BOLER ROAD, BOX 20081

      LONDON, ONTARIO N6K 4G6 · WWW.BRICKBOOKS.CA

      Cover image: detail from The Liminal Edge by Lorraine Thomson

      The author photo was taken by Lorraine Thomson

      Print design and layout by Cheryl Dipede.

      The print edition of the book is set in Requiem, designed by Jonathan Hoefler and published by Hoefler & Frere-Jones.

      copyright © Michael Kenyon 2014

      Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

      Kenyon, Michael, 1953-, author

      


      Astatine / Michael Kenyon.

      Poems.

      Issued in print and electronic formats.

      ISBN 978-1-771313-94-0

      I. Title.

      PS8571.E67A82 2014      C811'54     C2014-903873-9

      We acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program.

      ABOUT THIS BOOK

      An award-winning writer conjures the Muse and the noble gases in this elemental and incandescent new collection.

      Astatine is an Italian girl, who like Dante’s Beatrice, haunts the narrator of Michael Kenyon’s incandescent fourth book of poetry. Named after a radioactive element whose isotopes endure half-lives of mere seconds, she is simultaneously a disappearing and abiding presence who cajoles and comforts, who questions and points, who often leaves the poet puzzled, electrified, heart-broken, and wanting more. Astatine is Kenyon’s meditation on the evanescent and persevering tragedy of our lives on Earth. He takes us on an inspirational journey through time that embraces all we are born to and must too soon let go of, even as we make peace with the ever-changing fortunes of existence, even as we come upon unexpected joy.

      CONTENTS

      IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT

      I

      In the Hospital Grounds

      Song

      Ciao, tesoro!

      Soldier’s Note

      Above New Westminster

      There you are. I missed you.

      Active Pass / Milky Way

      Perché questa guerra, questa merda?

      Ahead, a Castle

      Fragile

      As My Fist

      Bismuth

      Cranky

      Red

      Delta

      Chute

      End of River Mountain

      Ciao, amante.

      Hospital Grounds

      Mower

      Grounds

      July Traffic

      Near the Caravan

      Library

      Orpheus XVI

      II

      Ghost

      Pietà

      Pyrrhic Victory

      Reading Middlemarch

      Red

      Red Blooms

      Ciao?

      Astatine

      Silver Boat

      Song

      III

      Half-Lives

      Song

      Tara Sings

      Soldier’s Note

      Glass Finch

      Stoma

      The Sailor Fell

      Equal Place

      After Tu Fu

      Nine Lives for Dad

      Fifteen

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