“…what gives this selection its special character is its exploratory character.”
“…(it) may be read as a voyage of discovery, of poetic forms, of various cultures, and of the endurance of history.”
Dr. E. D. Blodgett
Preface:
For over three decades my poetry has covered the literary waterfront. It began with an exploration of the Northwest Passage and the principals who eventually discovered it. The journeys of Frobisher, Hudson and Franklin thus led me to experiment with the narrative poem as a vehicle to capture their exploits – challenges and tragedies. Henry Hudson : his judgment is the example included here.
Next, I ventured to the other extreme. Before visiting Japan, I decided to study their poetry : notably the haiku. Needless to say, the brevity of such an imagistic form provided a very different experience. The richness and range of subjective and objective predispositions greatly enlarged my understanding of poetic possibilities. Before long, I was studying and practicing haiku, tanka and haiga.
But western poetry, classical and modern, was not neglected. Short forms such as the ghazal or the sonnet – in both Petrarchan and Shakespearian forms – always seemed intriguing but in retrospect they appear to have been part of an extended apprenticeship. The bulk of my work during the past two decades has explored the full range of lyrical and dramatic forms, predominantly in free verse.
Beyond poetry, my artistic activities have always taken me on journeys into the visual and dramatic arts. There is no doubt that these have affected my poetry, partly through the choice of appropriate subject matter. But their principal influence has been in the exploration of synergy : in particular, the combination of poetry with music, dance, drama and the visual arts. The title of this book, and most of the poetry included, capture this ongoing interest. I hope the reader will share it.
Gerald St. Maur
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