Poetry
Naked Poems
Phyllis Webb · 1965
Synopsis
Five sections of very short poems, almost haiku, in which the white spaces of the page count as much as the words. The first two sequences make a room for two women who love each other: gifts, kisses, a blouse, and a room of one's own. At the centre, Non Linear blends love and the work of the poem under the image of the sea. There also come a sequence of lies and a series of last questions.
Context
The volume appeared in Vancouver in 1965 from Periwinkle Press, the private press of the painter Takao Tanabe, who designed the layout. Having become a cult book, important for gay culture, it offered a new idea of the book-length poem, and the poet Phil Hall has made its author the mother of the long poem in Canada. She said her poems were born “of great struggles of silence”, and she published no new collection for fifteen years.
Who it is for
A very short collection that is read quickly and reread for a long time; the arrangement on the page carries meaning.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by The Canadian Encyclopedia as one of the most influential books of its time in the country.
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