… on the first ridge of hills on the north shore of Burrard Inlet across from the city of Vancouver, just beyond North Vancouver’s industrial foreshore, where piles of sulphur and containers full of widgets are heaped on the docks… by a canyon road that runs up to the top of a hill, set within a stand of mostly cedars and firs… —stan persky … an instance of proof about some aesthetic matter of the day. —sharon thesen Editor Jenny Penberthy Managing Editor Carol L. Hamshaw The Capilano Press Pierre Coupey, Roger Farr, Brook Houglum, Society Board Crystal Hurdle, Andrew Klobucar, Elizabeth Rains, George Stanley, Sharon Thesen Contributing Editors Clint Burnham, Erín Moure, Lisa Robertson Founding Editor Pierre Coupey Design Consultant Jan Westendorp Website Design James Thomson The Capilano Review is published by The Capilano Press Society. Canadian subscription rates for one year are $25 GST included for individuals. Institutional rates are $30 plus GST. Outside Canada, add $5 and pay in U.S. funds. Address correspondence to The Capilano Review, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver, BC V7J 3H5. Subscribe online at www.thecapilanoreview.ca For our submission guidelines, please see our website or mail us an SASE. Submissions must include an SASE with Canadian postage stamps, international reply coupons, or funds for return postage or they will not be considered—do not use U.S. postage on the SASE. The Capilano Review does not take responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, nor do we consider simultaneous submissions or previously published work; email submissions are not considered. Copyright remains the property of the author or artist. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the author or artist. Please contact accesscopyright.ca for permissions. The Capilano Review gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of Capilano College and the Canada Council for the Arts. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Magazines Fund toward our editorial and production costs. The Capilano Review is a member of Magazines Canada (formerly CMPA), the BC Association of Magazine Publishers, and the Alliance for Arts and Culture (Vancouver). PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NUMBER 151335. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION—TCR, 2055 PURCELL WAY, NORTH VANCOUVER, BC V7J 3H5 ISSN 0315 3754 (Published May 2007) Printed in Vancouver, BC by Advantage Graphix TCR 3·1 & 2 / Winter & Spring 2007 The Capilano College Issue 7 Preface to The Capilano College Issue TCR Editors 8 Series 1 & 2: Talking History bill bissett 29 four poems Clint Burnham 33 Phedra is a Cougar Penny Connell 37 Old Age Comes to the Island John Dixon 49 Saving the Songs of Innocence Roger Farr 52 from I K M & Q Dwight Gardiner 58 Midnight Cowboy Reid Gilbert 67 Performing The Capilano Review Will Goede 71 Learning Chinese G. Maria Hindmarch 78 from Swimming With Cancer Crystal Hurdle 83 from The Eternal Lolita Dorothy Jantzen 94 Introduction to Takayuki Kawabata Takayuki Kawabata 95 Statement and three poems Reg Johanson 99 from Plug Crawford Kilian 105 The Early Days of The Capilano Review August Kleinzahler 107 Tranter in America Ryan Knighton 109 Monkey Ingrid de Kok 113 two poems Helene Littman 115 Small Fires Daphne Marlatt 122 from Short Circuits: Walking Meditations Artists at Capilano College 125 seventeen images Dan Munteanu 145 Translation from Eugen Serbanesscu’s Afternoon with a Nymphomaniac John Pass 153 two poems Jenny Penberthy 155 Natural History Stan Persky 160 from The Music of the Spheres Meredith Quartermain 170 The Queen Dreams Peter Quartermain 176 four poems Lisa Robertson 181 Of Mechanics in Rousseau’s Thought Bill Schermbrucker 187 The Welder Sandra Seekins 195 Bristle Nancy Shaw 197 from Light.Sweet.Crude Bob Sherrin 201 from Go Lightly Jane (Hamilton) Silcott 211 Vertigo George Stanley 213 from Vancouver: A Poem Anne Stone 223 from Delible Sharon Thesen 227 The Consumptives at Tranquille Sanatorium, 1953 Fred Wah 231 from ARTiculations Rita Wong 235 after Wen I’to’s “Laundry Song” Andrew Klobucar 237 Index Pierre Coupey Cover Nursery, Maple Ridge (detail) Archival inkjet print, 2005 Preface to The Capilano College Issue With 100 issues in the archive, The Capilano Review enters its 35th year and its 3rd series. It does so looking back over a rich history. The long list of over a thousand contributors—poets, writers of fiction, playwrights, visual artists—proposes its own quirky ontology of emerging writers and influences within the BC, Canadian and in- ternational scene. It also reminds us of the role played by Capilano College writers in the evolution of local and national literary history. The Review owes gratitude to the Canada Council for the Arts, and it owes a particular debt to Capilano College, which has steadfastly supported the Review by financing the editorial staff and by endur- ing risky forays into experimental terrain. In a clearing in the west coast rainforest, Capilano College has attracted and nurtured an active community of writers and edi- tors—practitioners of the crafts they teach. This double issue pays homage to Capilano College faculty, past and present, who over 35 years have either made contributions to TCR and/or served on its board. It includes a conversation amongst past and present TCR editors plus a sampler of visual art by past and present college faculty. Jenny Penberthy, editor TCR EdiToRs / Series 1 & 2: Talking History Six out of eight past and present editors of The Capilano Review met on December 9, 2006 to mark the beginning of the third series of the magazine, to reflect on its 35 years, and to page through past issues—100 in all. Editors and editorial terms: Pierre Coupey (1972-1976), Bill Schermbrucker (1976- 1982), Ann Rosenberg (1982-1985), Dorothy Jantzen (1985-1988), Pierre Coupey (1989- 1991), Bob Sherrin (1991-1999), Ryan Knighton (1999-2001), Sharon Thesen (2001- 2005), Jenny Penberthy (2005-). Jenny: Thank you very much everyone for gathering here, especially Sharon and Bill for coming from afar. I think, Pierre, it’s your job as founding editor to start us off, tell us what started you off: the originary impulse, please! Pierre: I wish I could say it was just a lark at first, though it turned out to be that. When I came to Cap College at Bill’s invitation, Bill issued the challenge, “Make a contribution, man! Do something—you’re not just here to teach.” So Bill was the local kicker to get me going, but I’d already done The Georgia Straight and The Western Gate, and I was interested in publishing, period. At McGill we had two terrific publications:Forge , a literary magazine, and a monthly sheet called The Page, a little broadside—single person, single poem, two sides, and it generated a lot of interest. Both publications were important to me. At McGill I took creative writing workshops with Louis Dudek, who was a pioneer in Canadian publishing, with CV2, Delta and the McGill Poetry Series. That background gave me something to work from when Bill chal- lenged me to do something. Well, let’s do a magazine. And I suggested that to Bill, and he said, “Draw up a proposal.” So I did and presented it to the English Department for approval, and then it was a question of getting the money, which is another story. Bill: I believe $500 was the total budget, and you also had to go and sell some advertising. Pierre: Yes, it was all shoestring, $250 from the Administration and $250 from the Student Society, which was very generous of them at the time, and then I hit the bookstores, and sold advertising. Duthie Books and many other locals were supportive—it was amazing how many people were willing to sup- port this crazy idea, even people from other areas of the College, like Bob Johnson. Jenny: Bob Johnson? Pierre: Bob Johnson, yes, a very sweet man who taught in the Commercial Art Department at Cap College. He volunteered to do a complete design for The Capilano Review, so it was able to come out with a professional look and feel right from the beginning. And then Michael Morris of The Western Front gave me free access to his Image Bank where I found the “Amazing Ray Day” collage by the English artist Jeff Keen, and we thought that would make a great first cover. It matched my mood at the time… And it worked with our first visual art section, which was a selection of collage/concrete poetry works from a show put together by David UU. Jenny: Did you have to use black and white? Pierre: We couldn’t afford colour, we couldn’t afford much—maybe the whole budget was $750, something like that. We even printed in-house at Capilano College to save money. Jenny: That was Spring 1972? Pierre: We started thinking about it in the fall of 1971. Ryan: I was six months old! Sorry! Pierre: And we never imagined it would last this long—never dreamed of that! Jenny: Can you talk about the Russian contributors in the table of contents of the first issue? Those were cold war days… Pierre: Oh yeah, Andrei Voznesensky and Evgenii Yevtushenko. Well, it was an interesting Spring—Voznesensky came to town to do some readings, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Robert Bly came up from the States to read with him at SFU, a reading I think I video and audio-taped. I was hanging out with Pat Lane at that time, and we went to all these wonderful parties with Voznesensky, Bly, Ferlinghetti and the KGB. We had a great time with the KGB. They were even more interesting than Voznesensky, tough guys but lots of fun.