Here Is Where We Disembark

By Clea Roberts

With her remarkable debut collection, Yukon poet Clea Roberts proffers a perceptive & ecological reading of the Canadian North’s past & present. Roberts deftly draws out the moments that comprise a cycle of seasons, paying as much attention to the natural—the winter moon’s second-hand light that pools in the tracks of tree squirrels & loose threads of migrating birds—as she does to the manufactured—the peripheral percussion of J-brakes & half-melted ice lanterns. She also casts her gaze back to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898, raising the voices of those marked by a frenetic race for fortune: a seductive, edgy wolf, a disillusioned photographer, and a pragmatic prostitute, among others. Here Is Where We Disembark is a beautifully crafted book that ignites the senses, and its presence lingers, like woodsmoke, long after the final page has been turned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freehand Books
• Release date: Sep 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781460400197

Clea Roberts

Clea Roberts lives in Whitehorse, Yukon. Her poems have appeared in The Antigonish Review, CV2, The Dalhousie Review, The International Feminist Journal of Politics, Lake: A Journal of Arts and the Environment, The Malahat Review, Prism International, and Room. Roberts has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Centre, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts, and is a three-time recipient of the Yukon Government Advanced Artist Award. Her work has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and her poem, “When We Begin to Grow Old,” won the After Al Purdy Poetry Contest.

Book preview

Cover: Here is where we disembark, by Clea Roberts.

HERE IS

WHERE

WE DISEMBARK

CLEA ROBERTS

Logo: Freehand Books.

© CLEA ROBERTS 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical — including photocopying, recording, taping, or through the use of information storage and retrieval systems — without prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5E 1E5.

Freehand Books gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for its publishing program. ¶ Freehand Books gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

Logo: Canada Council for the Arts. Logo: Conseil des Arts du Canada.

Freehand Books

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Book orders: UTP Distribution.

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ISBN 978-1-55111-851-2 (print) ISBN 978-1-4604-0019-7 (epub)

Edited by Robyn Read

Book design by Natalie Olsen, kisscutdesign.com

Author photo by Archbould Photography, archbould.com

Contents

PART I

Transmutations

The Necessary Element of Hunger

When We Begin to Grow Old

Home

Ravens

Longest Night

Winter Equinox

A House is Built

Cathedral

Winter Ticks

Weight

Rendezvous

Pine Grosbeaks

Spring Equinox

The Brown Season

A Song Like Heels Clicking

First Thaw

Walking on the Path by the River

The Small, the White Feathered

Paradigm of Flood

Seasonal Adjustments

Black Bear at Pelly Crossing

Summer Solstice

Commute in Summer

Country Residential

Whiskey Jack, Grey Jay

Nature of Nature

River Camp at Little Salmon

Sunset, Little Atlin

What to Carry With You

From the Northeast, as a Thought Would

Fool Hen, Ruffed Wood Grouse

Laundry Day

PART II

Arrival

Load

Breakup

Claim

Harvest

Lure

Caption

Bad

Prayer

Laundry

Twitch

Birth

Fire

Liar

A Note on the Text

Acknowledgements

A Note on the Author

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Epigraph

PART I

Transmutations

The Necessary Element of Hunger

When We Begin to Grow Old

Home

Ravens

Longest Night

Winter Equinox

A House is Built

Cathedral

Winter Ticks

Weight

Rendezvous

Pine Grosbeaks

Spring Equinox

The Brown Season

A Song Like Heels Clicking

First Thaw

Walking on the Path by the River

The Small, the White Feathered

Paradigm of