Canadian Literature's Issue 214 (Autumn 2012) is now available. The issue features articles by Germaine Warkentin, Susan Gingell, Deanna Reder, Allison Hargreaves, Daniel Heath Justice, Kristina Fagan Bidwell, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Andrea King, Joanne Leow, and Ana María Fraile, and new Canadian poetry & book reviews.
by Chris Ewart
stained glass red
hints gold
in a button hole
rip a four a.m. sunrise
flash like a water pillow
we swim
your scoops of healthy orange
shine like juice
in a pan
my arms lift
to the squeeze
of wet fingers
in a cradle of sugar
a paint of sweat
spills morning smiles
This poem originally appeared in Canadian Literature #208 (Spring 2011), Prison Writing. (pg. 48)
Reviewed by Nadine Sivak
At the beginning of The Toss of a Lemon, Sivakami, a Tamil Brahmin girl from rural caste-organized Samanthibakkam is ten years old and soon to be married. The year is 1896 and she and her parents are on a pilgrimage to her mother's home village of Cholapatti to meet the potential groom. The man they have chosen, Hanumarathnam, is a healer and astrologer who confirms the compatibility of his and Sivakami's horoscopes and also notes that there is a faint suggestion "in the weakes […more…]