Mining For Sun

By John Reibetanz

Shortlisted for the 2001 ReLit Awards

John Reibetanz is good on grief: "You, mother,/ dying, left what was hard first:/ bones weeping into/ / your veins like flutes, teeth/ vanished on some hospital/ lunch tray" This conjunction of a profound sense of loss with the clearest-eyed observation and acceptance of the entropy of the mundane is characteristic. His poetry has a cultural breadth seldom seen in Canadian writing. He sees the pageantry of the Bayeux tapestry with the eyes of a rural quilter, whose son died beneath a tractor, who would focus on "the spear -- strayed from the main design -/ / that takes a wide-mouthed Tabourer aback,/ and recognize the pain/ of someone caught in the wreck/ of a vast, wayward machine."

His lucidity and eloquence have earned the praise of such celebrated poets as Richard Howard and Richard Wilbur. But it is always the heart's music which most informs his poetic craft: and that is what keeps it true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brick Books
• Release date: Sep 15, 2000
• ISBN: 9781771310307

John Reibetanz

John Reibetanz is the author of eleven previous collections of poetry, and his poems have appeared in such magazines as Poetry (Chicago), The Paris Review, The Walrus, and Canadian Literature. A finalist for the National Magazine Awards, the National Poetry Competition, and the ReLit Award, John has given readings in major cities all across Canada. He lives in Toronto and is a Senior Fellow at Massey College and a Fellow of Victoria College, where he received the first Victoria University Teaching Award. The Essential John Reibetanz, edited by Jeffery Donaldson, was published by The Porcupine’s Quill in 2017.

Book preview

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