Jogging with the Great Ray Charles

by Sherman, Kenneth

• ISBN13: 9781770413443
• ISBN10: 1770413448
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-10-11
• Publisher: ECW Press

Summary

A poetic masterclass from a writer at the height of his craft

Kenneth Sherman’s work has always displayed a vibrant lyricism, so it’s no surprise that his powerful new collection contains a number of poems with musical motifs. In such pieces as “Clarinet,” “Transistor Sister,” and the book’s titular poem, Sherman ponders our human transience while searching for “a voice to stand time’s test.” Sherman also confronts health concerns in a language that is Shaker-plain. The book concludes with the sombre, compassionate, and truly remarkable seven-part “Kingdom,” a meditation on the plight of the dispossessed.

In a Globe and Mail review of The Well: New and Selected Poems, Fraser Sutherland notes, “Sherman always seems to be listening to the voice of Canadian soil and landscape at the same time as he is attentive to the great European metaphysical theme of the soul in conflict with the world and time.” So it is with Jogging with the Great Ray Charles. Sherman has also included three brilliant translations of Yiddish poets that appeared in the Malahat Review’s “At Home in Translation” issue.

Author Biography

Kenneth Sherman has published ten books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed long poems Words for Elephant Man and Black River. He has published two collections of essays, Void and Voice and the award-winning What the Furies Bring. His most recent publication is the memoir Wait Time. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, where he conducts poetry-writing workshops.

Table of Contents

one
Clarinet ~ 1
Transistor Radio ~ 1
Jogging with the Great Ray Charles ~ 1
Contra Language ~ 1
Berlioz ~ 1
Heart ~ 1
Awaiting Biopsy Results ~ 1
A Dream of Leaving the Toronto
General ~ 1
Venus Occluded ~ 1
Predictable ~ 1
Umbrella ~ 1
two
You ~ 1
Western ~ 1
North ~ 1
To My Brother ~ 1
How to Prevent Your Own
Conception ~ 1
The Collector ~ 1
Revision ~ 1
On First Reading Hamlet ~ 1
The Tailor ~ 1
The Home ~ 1
At the Glendale Theatre, 1957 ~ 1
Layton ~ 1
Little Grandmother ~ 1
The War ~ 1
Salvaged Pages ~ 1
A Contemporary ~ 1
Photograph of a Talmudist ~ 1
Our Home ~ 1
My Friend Is Dying ~ 1
Four Questions ~ 1
three
No Tracks ~ 1
Cherry Tomatoes ~ 1
Snail ~ 1
Fishing ~ 1
Clouds ~ 1
Northern Lake ~ 1
The Marina ~ 1
Dusty ~ 1
Wringer-Washer ~ 1
Penhale’s Schooner ~ 1
The Seville ~ 1
Colón, Panama ~ 1
Seashells ~ 1
The Value of Repetition ~ 1
Gingko ~ 1
Buddha’s Parasol ~ 1
Contra Absolutes ~ 1
Hearing Your Favourite Poet ~ 1
Wise Cracks ~ 1
Vanishing Ink ~ 1
Scribe ~ 1
The Beach, Today, Is Closed ~ 1
Toodle-oo ~ 1
De la Cruz Gallery, Miami ~ 1
Bartender ~ 1
Obuse, Japan ~ 1
four
Kingdom ~ 1
Acknowledgements ~ 1