Mobility of Light

Nicole Brossard published her first collection of poetry in 1965. The national and international influence of her thirty collections of poetry, ten novels, four book-length essays, and numerous theoretical articles has been enormous. Her latest work in translation, Notebook of Roses and Civilization, was shortlisted for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize.Louise H. Forsyth was the chair of the French department at the University of Western Ontario, dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Saskatchewan, and president of the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her academic specializations are contemporary Quebec women poets and playwrights, and she has recently edited Nicole Brossard: Essays on Her Works and Anthology of Québec Women's Plays in English Translation, Vol. I (1966 - 1986) and Vol. II (1987 - 2003).

``As American poet Anne Waldman usefully asks, 'And what to make of [poetry]? "Do" with it? "Do" anything? Is it part of the poet's vow to perpetually catch, distill, refine, re-imagine where one walks, what one notices?' I can't answer for all poets here. As a teacher, however, I can say that yes, it is our vow as instructors to show students how poetry perpetually catches, distills, refines, and re-imagines our selves and our worlds. I agree with Neil Besner, general editor of Wilfrid Laurier Press, that what we 'do' with poetry starts with our students. We need to attend more carefully to what poetry we teach as well as how we teach it. I thus applaud the efforts of the Laurier Poetry Series, which, with the hopes of creating and sustaining 'the larger readership that contemporary Canadian poetry so richly deserves,' has been publishing 'useful, engaging, and comprehensive introductions' to the life's work of major Canadian poets. Each of these volumes includes 35 poems selected and introduced by a critic, followed by an afterword by the poet. The volumes are intended, Besner argues, to make the connections between the life and the work more accessible to a 'general' reader ('Foreword'). ``Besner's eloquent, timely, and practical arguments remind me of Lyn Hejinian's belief that our poetic revolutions will always be 'local, particular, and temporary,' but are nonetheless undiminished. Let us consider what poetry is doing in the world. Let us consider how Laurier's texts differ, as Besner argues in their intent, from the conventional anthology and whether they in fact demonstrate the relevance of poetry to a life. Let us consider, for example, how in the Laurier Poetry Series' most recent collections, Mobility of Light: The Poetry of Nicole Brossard and Fierce Departures: The Poetry of Dionne Brand, we might understand what it means to live. Let us think about how, through poetry, we can re-imagine who we are as well as the world we walk through.'' -- Emily Carr -- ARC Poetry Magazine, Winter 2010, 201001

• Mobility of Light: The Poetry of Nicole Brossard selected with an introduction by Louis H. ForsythForeword Neil BesnerBiographical NoteIntroduction Louise H. ForsythAube à la saison / ""Season Dawning""Sur fil de lumière On strands of lightMordre en sa chair / ""Biting in the Flesh""La loi du muscle Muscle's LawL'écho bouge beau / ""Echo Budges Beautiful""neutre le monde m'enveloppe neutre neutral the world envelops me neutralécoute plutôt paisiblement l'écorce craquer listen quite peacefully to the crust cracking Suite logique / ""Suite logic""en ces temps opaques in those opaque timesentre code et code between code and codesuspension de lacte action suspendedLe centre blanc / ""The White Centre""IV. le mot vertige IV. the word vertigoV. attentive au silence V. attentive to the silenceMécanique jongleuse, suivi de Masculin grammaticale / Daydream Mechanics. Masculine Singularson désir l'explore her desire explores herverte vague sur le ventre sur l'échine green billows on the belly on the spineLa partie pour le tout / ""The Part for the Whole""je prends la page par le côté incertain I dive into the page through the uncertain sideL'amèr ou le chapitre effrité / These Our Mothers Or: The Disintegrating ChapterLe corps des mères enlacées The bodies of mothers entwinedAmantes / Lovhersquelque part toujours un énoncé somewhere always a statementselon les années de la réalité according to the years of reality« la splendeur » dit O. ""the splendour,"" said O. « la science » dit Xa. ""science"" says Xa. MA continent MY continent Marginal Way / ""Marginal Way""l'intention la beauté extrême intention extreme beautyce n'est pas familier dans l'ombre it's not familiar in shadowsi dans l'ombre je pense à la passion if in shadow I think of passionL'aviva / Avival'aviva (l'aviva son visage et les relais) aviva (aviva a face and the relaying)l'en suite traduite (l'anima l'image et les effets) the latest translated (anima image and effects)l'aviva (car l'aviva, l'attisa lève le voile) aviva (for the aviva, stirred her lifts the veil) l'en suite traduite (car voilà que lèvres encore d'elle) the latest translated (for here that lips still hers)À tout regard / ""If""Si sismal If Yes SeismalInstallations / InstallationsRéalité RealityLangue TongueInstallation InstallationContemporain ContemporaryLangues obscures / ""Obscure Tongues""Je m'intéresse à la connaissance I indulge in knowledgeJe m'intéresse à la connaissance I indulge in knowledgeLa nuit verte du Parc Labyrinthe. Green Night of Labyrinth Park. La noche verde del Parque Laberintoentre l'histoire bordée de visions between history framed in visionsVertige de l'avant-scène / ""Downstage Vertigo""fait de langue tourmente fact of tongue tormentsune fois reproduites dans la langue once reproduced in languageune façon de se jeter sur le lit a way of flopping on the bedAu présent des veines / ""Coursing through the Veins""ce sont toujours les miêmes mots they are always the same wordsLa matière heureuse manoeuvre encore, in Auprésent des veines / ""Harmonious Matter Is Still Manoeuvring""aujourd'hui je sais que la structure today I know that the deepest blue structureMusée de l'os et de l'eau / Museum of Bone and WaterThéâtre: vitesse d'eau Theatre. Speed of Waterce soir si tu rapproches ton visage tonight if you lean your face closeLe présent n'est pas un livre The Present Is Not a BookLe silence de l'hibiscus The Silence of the HibiscusJe m'en vais à Trieste / ""I'm Leaving for Trieste""Wanuskewin WanuskewinHôtel Clarendon Hotel ClarendonOgunquit OgunquitCahier de roses et de civilisation. Écritures 2 / Notebook of Roses and CivilizationSuggestions le coeur serré Suggestions Heavy-Hearted Soft Link 2 Soft Link 2dans le temps facile et bleu in a time blue and easyShadow: Soft et Soif, in Ardeur / Shadow Soft et Soiftiens-toi bien dans le silence hold on in silenceAprès les mots / ""After Words""Le dos indocile des mots The Indocile Back of WordsLe dos indocile des mots The Indocile Back of WordsPostface Afterword Nicole BrossardAcknowledgements