Ignite

By Rona Shaffran

Speaking a language we understand, Rona Shaffran's poems tell the story of remarkable things that can happen in a broken relationship. These poems inhabit the sharp edges and rich depths of a union too long untended. Ignite begins in wintry suburbia with a man and woman who have lost emotional and physical connection. A magic-realist plunge into the atavistic tropics of desire breaks this barren matrix. The exotic landscape sparks resurgent passion, which leads to a dramatic and healing turn-around for the couple. The poems of disappointment don't waste a word. The poems of arousal are sensual, succinct and poignant. The garden grows. The transformation is real.

Straightforward on the surface, yet taking us to deeper levels of understanding, the poems are unflinchingly honest. Individually, they startle, and evoke primal recognitions. When read in sequence, the poems of Ignite impel us to the story's conclusion. The man and woman come alive as their joy and sadness meld together. There is dignity in this progression, and the restraint that comes with dignity.

These are poems for readers and lovers in all their seasons, yet there is hard-won maturity to the lovers in Ignite. Everyday gestures transform into universal experiences, taking us to the heart of emotions and experiences of a lifetime's duration. The language, refined to bone-essential elements, almost disappears to create an intimacy with the reader, a collective energy, a human experience that we all share.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Signature Editions
• Release date: Apr 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781927426173

Rona Shaffran

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Rona Shaffran lives in Ottawa, Ontario. She recently retired as co-director of the Tree Reading Series, one of Canada's longest running poetry venues, where she is also a member of the board of directors and organizes master poetry workshops. Rona Shaffran is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and the Banff Centre Writing Studio. Her poems have appeared in Canadian literary journals, including Vallum, in an illustrated chapbook published and distributed in Canada and Australia, and in several collaborative chapbooks. She has won honourable mention for the John Newlove Poetry Award. Retired several years ago from federal government work, Rona now devotes time to writing and to travel, and is at work on a second manuscript that includes both poetry and prose. Ignite is her first published book of poetry.

Book preview

Ignite

Ignite

Rona Shaffran

George Payerle, Editor

Signature Editions

© 2013, Rona Shaffran

Print Edition ISBN 978-1-927426-02-9

Epub Edition 2013

ISBN 978-1-927426-17-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, for any reason, by any means, without the permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Doowah Design.

Photo of Rona Shaffran by Alan Dean Photography.

We acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council for our publishing program.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Shaffran, Rona

Ignite / Rona Shaffran.

Poems.

I. Title.

PS8637.H34I35 2013     C811’.6     C2013-900985-X

Signature Editions

P.O. Box 206, RPO Corydon, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3M 3S7

www.signature-editions.com

for Brian

…and let our bodies lose all

their loneliness.

—from The Nude Swim

Anne Sexton

Table of Contents

I

Burnt Forest

Chaste

Impasse

Early Morning Mist

Unseen

Manna: a prayer

Unclothed

Night’s Corridor

Impact

An Opening

Cracks

City Limits

Three

Light: a prayer

Improbable

Trapped

Erosion

In the Rain

Suspended

Salve

Entreaty

Lullaby

Shifting

Plunge

II

Small Island

Dawn’s Song

Guzzle

Ignite

Chimera

Spellbound

Seamless

Cistern

Fulcrum

The Clock

Opal

Toffee

Green Kimono

Wheelbarrow

Each Time

Flight

Of all the ways you have touched me

Long Night

III

Shadow

Rush of the Wind

Top to Tail

Bowl

Scent of Jasmine

Compass

Gently Down

New Clothes

Chant

Entrusted

Boldly

Life Mate

Autumn Angles

At the Window

Blue Branches

Beat

Acknowledgements

About the Author

I

In the long journey out of the self,