the quint volume two issue one an interdisciplinary quarterly from the north editors advisory board poetry/fiction Yvonne Trainer Dr. Keith Battarbee interviews/book reviews Sandra Barber University of Turku articles John Butler art Sue Matheson Dr. Lynn Echevarria creative nonfiction David Williamson Yukon College Dr. Susan Gold managing editor Sue Matheson University of Windsor Dr. Didi Hitchens University of Alaska (Anchorage) the quint welcomes submissions. See our Dr, Kathryn McNaughton guidelines or contact us at: University College of the North the quint Dr Stephen Roe University College of the North Northern Lights College 504 Princeton Drive Thompson MB Canada R8N 0A5 We cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material. production: Grant Nemeth and Sue Matheson cover photo supplied by Sue Matheson A quarterly journal, the quint is housed in and produced by the Humanities Area of The University College of the North. The encouragement and support of the Office of the Vice President Academic for this project at the University College of the North is deeply appreciated. Copyright 2009© the quint for the contributors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without our consent. the quint December 2009 2 inside Poetry Fixing Things Broken by Greg Cook................................................................................... 6 Key to Hick City by Marie Baker ........................................................................................ 52 four poems by bill bissett ..................................................................................................... 93 three poems by Colin Morton ........................................................................................... 148 Interview/Reviews The Bloody White Baron by John Butler ............................................................................. 167 Ghoulies and Gheasties and Lang-legged Beasties by Sue Matheson ................................... 172 Persian Poetry for the Western Reader by John Butler .......................................................... 177 Travelling in Arabia and Africa by Sue Matheson .............................................................. 180 Interview: Daniel David Moses by Yvonne Trainer ..................................................... 185 Articles Some Historical and Philosophical Considerations of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights by Jim Gough ............................................................................................................. 33 Singing for Cleofe by Donald Beecher .............................................................................. 54 A Dutch Accountant in Korea by John Butler .............................................................. 101 Gallery MAAC Olympic Ravens ..................................................................................................... 190 the quint December 2009 3 NonFiction The War Time House in Shaunessey Heights by Nancy Ellen McLennan ................ 14 Why Men Do It by Richard Van Camp ......................................................................... 153 Contributors ....................................................................................................................... 272 Guidelines ............................................................................................................................ 274 the quint December 2009 4 EDITORIAL Just in time for Christmas—another quint that showcases some of Canada’s best: the poetry of bill bissett, Greg Cook, Colin Mortin, and Marie Baker, the non-fiction of Richard Van Camp and Nancy McLennan, the work of Donald Beecher, Jim Gough, and John Butler. Our Christmas issue introduces readers to the adventures of a Dutch accountant in Korea, tiny librarians, the beaches of Nova Scotia, the art of moving sheets of plywood, and why men DO IT. What could be better this holiday than curling up in a big chair beside a blazing wood stove, spending a quiet evening with the quint , reading and listening to the wind outside? December is a wonderful time of year for gifts in northern Manitoba: Irvin Head from Northern Buffalo Sculptures in Cranberry Portage has generously provided the quint gallery with macquettes of the MAAC Olympic Ravens. I won’t keep you much longer from your present. I only need to say that everyone at the quint wishes you the very best that this season has to offer and hopes that every happiness desired arrives in 2010. We’ll be back in March with more for you to discover. Sue Matheson Managing Editor the quint December 2009 5 Fixing Things Broken by Greg Cook Do you write to fix things broken in your life? -- Grade VI poet’s question 1: Notes toward a new heart The Blanket On the Road Back Home II: Walkabouts In Dreamtime Beaching Broken Words III: The Ancestors Grandmother Comes Full Circle the quint December 2009 6 1: Notes toward a new heart The Blanket Buying a blanket you love I am envious of your attention to the inanimate flower woven by intense labour Now spread on your bed the plant’s head floats comforts sorrow wrestling hope the quint December 2009 7 On the Road I’m looking for the stone steps of continental convulsions that I might climb back to you Leaves like wild fire leap across the line of yellow caution the quint December 2009 8 Back Home If you could not cook I would be a chef If you were blind, I would read for you make sounds the colour of landscape If you were paralyzed, I would move you carry you in our dance If you were deaf I would sign find vibrations for the music If you fail to remember your life I will create stories not yet imagined If you remember good in our life I am willing to recreate it invent better for the remainder the quint December 2009 9 II: Walkabouts In Dreamtime Yesterday this kiss-me-quick tree blossomed red today unfolds pink blanches white tomorrow. Kiss me, quick. Then Expecting you, looking up from poetry towards its sources, some aspect of another keeps parading as you -- like a promise come true. Now In sleep I begin to roll over wake in hesitation not to disturb you. Again you are no longer there Again Let’s try again to pick up the our talismans find the custodians of dreaming stories and meet together the “stolen wives who built this state.” Then Many languages that never built a tower remained so close to the ground the concept of hunger was unknown. Now Here we know the medicine trees those that heal and the other that kills and how the tree of love blossoms. Kiss me, quick. Again the quint December 2009 10 Beaching Off slopping shoulders of continental drift earth sheds her skin, as we wade below white beach and sand dollars delivered on the laughter of surf Let’s be dollars. I’ll polish you. You spend me, a token, taking our change to the known world broken On the pink and red grains erased from bedrock we retrace our footprints in the rusty leave lines lapping the shore once liquid, running-moments of blood I want to be your rock, rock you, rock me to tunes of singing sand I will become along the nude dunes On silver powder shimmering under us we meme, the verb, its simmering mirage arriving with the wind over our oasis of sun-struck love Keep your dreams secret as I drink in those unheard remember them, let them float, in the reality of word On rainbows of beach painted in volcanic ashes we breathe life from the fallen sky undulating brushing the sliding sands in insatiable perfections From above the reef of wonder is no place to fall twice. Let’s not. Let’s say we skipped the first time so I will not stagger across the desert strand tripping over the jetsam of your broken heart drifting into coves of flotsam named after hope. the quint December 2009 11 Broken Words At the end of the tunnel, not a train light, but an eye fissuring a cave wall -- not a mirror -- a position to view self from a safe distance. The third eye in the cave of the mind is reserved for the security of dreaming on its walls these hieroglyphics -- these essential words that know. Genuine is a passion of distancing the self from love sufficient to know it. Self-transcendence too difficult to share, I credit her with my knowledge gained. I suppose you think this poem is about me. I am but a weathervane. This poem is not about you. Like the wind it comes from an other direction. It is about the other in us all. the quint December 2009 12 III: The Ancestors Grandmother Comes Full Circle Out of nowhere she asks looking through the okay, perfect sign of her thumb and forefinger allowing her other three digits to dance as if playing an instrument to draw the music of my correct answer Do you remember the comet? I suppose in my beard she imagines I am her sea captain grandfather-in-law I remember a well pump, and then ask You mean the outboard motor, The Comet? Letting her speaking hand drop to its partner at her waist, she realizes No I guess you were too young. the quint December 2009 13 The Wartime House in Shaughnessy Heights Excerpt from a Memoir with Poetry by Nancy Ellen McLennan Mine is a tale about emerging into life, from growing up in a wartime house. To begin my tale I have had to remove my mom’s wedding ring. I cannot say for sure why I had been wearing it. True, it is mine now, but it certainly is not my style. I’d put it on about a month before beginning to write this account. Then, on the day before I began to write I decided to put on the diamond in the same style. It's funny that the rings would fit me perfectly. But the following morning they screamed