| Blue Himalayan Poppies Contributor(s): Ruzesky, Jay (Author) |
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ISBN: 0889711763 ISBN-13: 9780889711761 Publisher: Nightwood Editions OUR PRICE: $15.26 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2001 Annotation: With "Blue Himalayan Poppies," Jay Ruzesky collects his best poetry of the past seven years. Acclaimed as one of Canada's most interesting and innovative contemporary poets for his first two books, "Am I Glad to See You" (Thistledown, 1992) and the highly praised and influential "Painting the Yellow House Blue" (Anansi, 1994), Ruzesky has produced his best collection yet. Ruzesky applies his fully matured and honed skills to the creation of a stunning fresco that spans the universal dilemma of life itself: the haunting and invigorating importance of family and lifelong friends ("the way the sudden memory of someone/ surprises the mind"), both the comfort and the solitude brought about by love, the ever-present desire of escape and the never ending circle of the routine, destruction and most importantly, regeneration. In "Blue Himalayan Poppies," a borrowed book becomes a stolen token of intimate love, a looming mushroom cloud signifies a teenage couple's belief in the overriding power of human vitality, an empty hotel room turns into a scene of lust so intense and unbridled that it could only be a product of a maid's imagination and a common household is transformed into a glowing Garden of Eden by a sidewalk chalk artist. Jay Ruzesky's exploration of everyday life is a boon and a treasure to us all; he offers the big picture, in which he is just as likely to inform little plastic men found under the couch that "grief/ is the other side/ of the pleasure your faces speak of" as he is to relate the astonishment of looking into the night sky and realizing "'Oh my God, it's full of stars.'" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Poetry | Canadian - Poetry | American - General |
| Dewey: 811.54 |
| LCCN: 2002327548 |
| Physical Information: 0.32" H x 5.29" W x 7.49" (0.24 lbs) 112 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: With Blue Himalayan Poppies, Jay Ruzesky collects his best poetry of the past seven years. Acclaimed as one of Canada's most interesting and innovative contemporary poets for his first two books, Am I Glad to See You (Thistledown, 1992) and the highly praised and influential Painting the Yellow House Blue (Anansi, 1994), Ruzesky has produced his best collection yet. Ruzesky applies his fully matured and honed skills to the creation of a stunning fresco that spans the universal dilemma of life itself: the haunting and invigorating importance of family and lifelong friends (the way the sudden memory of someone/ surprises the mind), both the comfort and the solitude brought about by love, the ever-present desire of escape and the never ending circle of the routine, destruction and most importantly, regeneration. In Blue Himalayan Poppies, a borrowed book becomes a stolen token of intimate love, a looming mushroom cloud signifies a teenage couple's belief in the overriding power of human vitality, an empty hotel room turns into a scene of lust so intense and unbridled that it could only be a product of a maid's imagination and a common household is transformed into a glowing Garden of Eden by a sidewalk chalk artist. Jay Ruzesky's exploration of everyday life is a boon and a treasure to us all; he offers the big picture, in which he is just as likely to inform little plastic men found under the couch that grief/ is the other side/ of the pleasure your faces speak of as he is to relate the astonishment of looking into the night sky and realizing Oh my God, it's full of stars. |
Contributor Bio(s): Ruzesky, Jay: - Jay Ruzesky's fiction, poetry, and non-fiction has been published in Canada and internationally and translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. His previous books include Blue Himalayan Poppies, Painting the Yellow House Blue, and Am I Glad To See You. His first novel, The Wolsenburg Clock, was shortlisted for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize and a ReLit Award. He has been on the editorial board of The Malahat Review for over twenty years and is co-founder of Outlaw Editions. He teaches English, Film Studies, and Creative Writing at Vancouver Island University and lives on Vancouver Island. |
