PDF helices George Swede Books
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First Place, 2017 Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Awards, Haiku Society of America
                             Judged by Terri L. French and LeRoy Gorman
Right from the first reading this title jumped out. Clear editing and presentation pace the reader through four balanced sections (or helices) combining haiku, tanka, and haibun. Swede's craft is exemplary. The writing pleases at every turn. There are introspective pieces, ones of social concern and more--all sparkling. Helices is a title to read and admire over and over.
PDF helices George Swede Books
"One of the best contemporary haiku writers. These show all his strengths, and a mind that never stops processing life events in compressed haiku moments of sharp insight."
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Tags : helices (9781936848706) George Swede Books,George Swede,helices,Red Moon Press,1936848708,Literature Fiction / Poetry,Literary Collections / Canadian,Poetry / Canadian
helices George Swede Books Reviews :
helices George Swede Books Reviews
- I’ve long admired the poetry of George Swede. Helices, his latest collection, is a worthy addition to a distinguished body of work. The book is lovely, elegant, and provocative--easy praise, I know, but true. Some of the poems go off in your head like those little explosive crackers that Mexicans toss in the streets on bullfight days. Take the poem
all the time
I've saved
nowhere to be
found
I've wasted a lot of time in my life and (during some of that time) I've wondered how much more I might have accomplished had I been more industrious. But Mr. Swede’s poem reverses that notion and makes you wonder in an alternate direction. Maybe I should have wasted more time if the time that I did save is no longer available to me. I don't mean to shake the Zen out of the poem, but I can't help dancing on top of that idea for a moment, which is what his poems make folks want to do.
Some of Mr. Swede’s lines slap you into awareness, recognition, as in "Daze" when the poet asks, "Is it the wooden ladder that's unsteady or is it me?" That line, as a matter of fact, popped into my head today when I was walking back to my car with an arm load of groceries and tripped on some ill-placed stepping stones. "Or were they ill-placed?" I couldn't help asking myself.
Some of his poems dazzle with their dusky ironies
cold dark tombstone
its eight numbers erased
by what they measured
Others make you swoon with their poetic fancies
Night hurrying
down the mountainside
to work as shadows
for the day--
I re-knot my tie
Some scare the hell out of you
abandoned cabin
flypaper sways
with its catch
Just for the record, I'm not going in that cabin.
I could go on but then Mr. Swede would be writing this review what with me quoting him so much. I will say that these poems seem, as a collection, a little more somber or at least less comic than I remember some of his earlier poems being. That, of course, is offered not as a criticism, but rather as an observation, an impression. I wonder if those of you familiar with his work will agree. I like both tacks about equally, but given my own particular trim, heel a little more in this latter direction (if you'll pardon the sailing metaphor). I congratulate George Swede on yet another fine book. - One of the best contemporary haiku writers. These show all his strengths, and a mind that never stops processing life events in compressed haiku moments of sharp insight.
