Meditatio Placentae

By Monty Reid

From yoghurt tubs to pop-up books to bobcats, from cement trucks to lost socks to the products of conception, Meditatio Placentae, Monty Reid's twelfth collection, is a book about unruly stuff. Stuff that functions but also stuff that exceeds, stuff that dreams. A gathering of short poems wrapped into longer sequences, this is a book that pays attention to the world, in all its dizzying forms.

The poems in Meditatio Placentae cluster around certain ideas, experiences, narratives; sometimes they cohere, sometimes they only assemble, but they are always at crossroads where people and objects collide. In these poems matter itself--including the placenta of the title poem--is vibrant, and argues for its rightful recognition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brick Books
• Release date: Apr 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781771314404

Monty Reid

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, worked for many years in Alberta, and now lives in Ottawa. His books include Garden (Chaudiere), The Luskville Reductions (Brick), and CrawlSpace (Anansi). Recent chapbooks include Kissing Bug (Phafours), Moan Coach (above/ground) and Site Conditions (Apt. 9). He has won Alberta's Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry on three occasions, the Lampman Award, National Magazine Awards, and is a three-time nominee for the Governor General’s Award. He is currently the Managing Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine and Festival Director at VerseFest, Ottawa’s international poetry festival.

Book preview

Meditatio Placentae

Meditatio

Placentae

poems by Monty Reid

Brick Books

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Reid, Monty, 1952–, author

Meditatio placentae / Monty Reid.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77131-440-4 (epub)

I. Title.

PS8585.E603M44 2016              C811’.54              C2015-907892-X

Copyright © Monty Reid, 2016

We acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program.

The author photo was taken by Pearl Pirie.

Print design and layout by Marijke Friesen.

Brick Books

431 Boler Road, Box 20081

London, Ontario N6K 4G6

www.brickbooks.ca

ABOUT THIS BOOK

From yoghurt tubs to pop-up books to bobcats, from cement trucks to lost socks to the products of conception, Meditatio Placentae, Monty Reid’s twelfth collection, is a book about unruly stuff. Stuff that functions but also stuff that exceeds, stuff that dreams. A gathering of short poems wrapped into longer sequences, this is a book that pays attention to the world, in all its dizzying forms.

The poems in Meditatio Placentae cluster around certain ideas, experiences, narratives; sometimes they cohere, sometimes they only assemble, but they are always at crossroads where people and objects collide. In these poems matter itself—including the placenta of the title poem—is vibrant, and argues for its rightful recognition.

For FMR

CONTENTS

Household Gods

Frances Disassembles the Pop-up Book

Site Conditions

Lost in the Owl Woods

Meditatio Placentae

So Is the Madness of Humans

A Poem That Ends with Murder

Moan Coach

Contributors’ Notes

Acknowledgements

Biographical Note

Household Gods

1. Sock

A basket full of the tongues of liars

still warm from the dryer

dozes on the table.

In the warmth of their sleep

they call softly for their lost mates.