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The
Pear Orchard
(Poetry)
by Joanne Weber
ISBN 0-9739727-7-7 · Paperback · 8." x
5." 88 pages
$16.95 (CDN) / $15.95 (US) · Release Date: April 2007
On one level, The Pear Orchard depicts the struggle of a woman
to embrace her deafness, but in these poems there is a rich
tapestry of imagery from history, visual art, lives of the
saints and life on a prairie farm. This book unfolds a new
way of mapping silence and language as a hearing man and a
deaf woman journey through time together, loving, speaking,
not speaking. In this utterly unique book Weber seamlessly
draws on themes of suffering, childbirth, sexuality, rebirth,
language and relationships. Through the voices of ghosts and
lovers Weber reinvents myths and symbols that have a powerful
and tangible impact on lives lived in silence and within the
stream of the sometimes harsh world of words. Perceptions
are altered, new topographies are understood, and unheard
stories are finally told through this unsettling, yet cathartic
journey.
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To
view book jacket, please click on the image.
Mother, now that you’ve let me
be deaf,
scraped your womb of its dank winter trees,
cleared the unkempt patches,
you’ve let me be a pure seed begun
in you, a room of buried longings.
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Joanne's
book, The Pear Orchard was launched by Hagios Press last
Tuesday (April 17th) in Regina, Saskatchewan. I had the privilege
of reading with Gary Hyland, a seasoned poet and several contributors
to an anthology, Fast Forward, edited by Paul Wilson and
Barbara Klaar. I wish to thank everyone who came out for a fabulous
evening of wine and poetry.
Look
for Joanne's first poetry book, The Pear Orchard at the
Book and Brier, the University of Regina bookstore, and at McNally
Robinson in Saskatoon.
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