–
Carol DeFina , MA

for Cornelia Hoogland
At the foot of Sulphur Mountain

people at Banff frolic in the fume

of frothing hot springs

they soak and burn away

the ache of ski trails

and too much fine spirit

micro-brew and pinot noir

golden weed and white, white blow

only a few ages set free

from the primeval clam-shell

and the havoc runs

amok around the clock

the beautiful sad ones

let their hair hang down

before they slip into the scald

Raven has flown to this peak

and faced the steady winds

since land first dried

and rose to icy heights

he has spread wings, fanned tail

and tumbled backwards

over the summit, joyous

in this cacophonous comedy

soared above evergreens

to play the mountain

again and again

to make the snow fall

and the water flow

to his call

by John Tyndall

April 12, 1 pm Community Arts Council of Vancouver (CACV) http://www.cacv.ca/?s=cornelia+hoogland+

April 12, 7 pm The On the Edge reading series, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BChttp://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/164592

April 13, Planet Earth Poetry Victoria BC

http://planetearthpoetryvictoriabc.blogspot.com/

April 13-17 AERA Vancouver academic conference (reading)

April 19-21 Festival of Faith and Writing Ann Arbour Michigan USA

http://festival.calvin.edu/

August 7-12, 2012 ALECC Conference: Space + Memory = Place. University of British Columbia, Kelowna BC  http://www.alecc.ca/news.php

August 15 – 21, 2012, Women Playwrights’ International, Stockholm Swedenhttp://www.wpinternational.net/conference/stockholm-2012

Crow finds itself in love and loss, in death and rebirth, and most of   all in flight. The poems of the manuscript screech volumes without needing the elaborate ululations other songbirds might provide; the black, sparse simplicity of the crow allows the relatable, universal imagery of these poems to shine as the narrator writes through pain, loves through hardship and doubt, lives for her family, and moves on for herself. A reader may find themselves digging deeper and deeper, hoarding eye-catching metaphors and running into themselves in the crow’s mirror.

“With a nod to the obsidian darkness of Ted Hughes, a place where crow feathers gleam like sweat on a boxer’s brow, Cornelia Hoogland shows how our compassion for the enemies of peace holds a mirror to our own violent and antagonistic shortcomings. Crow is a collection that calls out from the backyards, the private moments and the global conflicts that shape our understanding with stark grace and the subtle obscenity of nature.” — Robert Earl Stewart

Hoogland says of her 6^th book “Everywhere on Haida Gwaii, B.C., the communities of crows and ravens are vivid.  Being in their presence and hearing their strong talk changed my life.  I stood on the beach at Rose Spit where the world began; where, from out of the clam shell, Raven plucked the first humans.  In the gravel margins of the Trans Canada, and in the backyards and alleys of my many homes in cities across Canada, raven’spoor cousin, crow, has been excellent company.”

Read the latest review in the University of Windsor’s “The Lance“.