 Latent
Heat
AUTHOR: Catherine Hunter ISBN: 0921833555
REVIEWS: "Catherine Hunter
grew up in Winnipeg, where she listened well to the rhythm and music of
the streets, supermarkets and malls. Her well-attuned ear captures this
rhythm and music. In Latent Heat, she plays with it until it pirouettes
onto the page in unexpected, yet hauntingly appropriate and beautiful
images. Latent Heat is a work of exceptional poetic inspiration
and ability. Hunter combines the talent and technique of the storyteller
with the finely chiselled images of the poet. Lovers of poetry will sink
into the cool, clear waters of Hunter's vision, never once asking to come
up for air. But those who aren't will also find much to enjoy. Meaning
here is not buried under mountains of words. It floats on the surface
of magnificently flowing lines."
"Catherine Hunter's Latent Heat is a treat for anyone interested in a good thoughtful read of good, thoughtful, contemporary poetry. The book is a clear reflection of her compulsion to be fresh and arresting in her poetry. But Catherine Hunter is no poet-anarchist, simply and self-indulgently letting form find its own way to reflect the content of her work. Her poems do not evolve organically out of whatever verbal sculpture inherent in the sense and passion of her words. There is construction, shape, invention, and an adaptation of words, sentiment, and meaning. The result is a satisfying and coherent vessel for the expression of her truths. Her poetry is a rough caress of words; palm, fingers, tips, running lightly over the erect down on our skin, the caressing hand thickened with effort, self-denial, and disappointment. A submissive eroticism blended with an unyielding vision of the unreasonableness of the world." —Zygote
"A major task of
any poet is to make the absent present, luring 'airy nothingness' with
language. Latent Heat by Catherine Hunter, attempts to do just
that. I am reminded of the strange distinction Aldous Huxley made between
imagination, what he called 'the story-telling faculty,' and vision, seeing
past sensation, what he thought the poet's work primarily to be. These
opposites are often fused in Hunter who spins narratives throughout the
book, not only in the four sequential pieces opening the work, but also
in the single lyrics that conclude the book, yet almost always she is
looking for 'illusory, irresistible moments' when 'the world seems to
give up / its hiddenness.' At times like this the sign invokes the signified:
'an ant crawling over the drawing / of an ant I've made upon the page.'
Such faith is rare these days, but Hunter clearly writes with visionary
aspirations. Latent
Heat reveals a poet who is not afraid to speak of love and death,
the great experiences, with a personal imagination, and as such she is
unusual today." Other
Cyclops titles by Catherine Hunter: |
WINNER
OF THE MANITOBA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
ABOUT THE BOOK: