Intuitive environmentalism from the Canadian North is carried forth into creative global adventuring.
At night we swim / following the fence: / diverted / we enter the net / shaped like a heart / and in the heart the hook / guides us to the back
A stunning unfolding of memory, Wavelengths of Your Song juxtaposes a childhood in the northern Canadian wilderness with the adventures of an international creative life.
Genuine environmentalism is at the heart of this collection. Migrations of birds and humans lend their songs to the vivid writing and a tangible, sensory reality emerges from their sounds. Music by Beethoven and Rzewski, paintings by Norval Morrisseau and Kandinsky, and writing by Kafka and Celan, inspire Eleonore Schönmaier’s poetry. She takes the reader on unexpected journeys skiing across frozen lakes, cycling along Dutch canals, or hiking in Malta and New Zealand. With surprising, at times breathtaking connections, she illuminates hot air ballooning, canoe camping, planting trees on Vienna rooftops, and the bathing of a black horse in the North Sea.
In poems that travel extensively around the globe, in lists for living well, and in love letters, Eleonore Schönmaier takes the reader on a journey along the wavelengths of the ocean, sound, and the physics of light.
Critical Commentary on Wavelengths of Your Song
The poems feel impelled by a passionate, unblinking curiosity about the world and its creatures…The fluidity within the poems is matched by the subtle flow between them…The effect is like that of a symphony with interwoven and subtly varied musical statements, and, as in a symphony, the effect is cumulative…This collection could be enjoyed for the beauty of the language alone. — Jean Van Loon, Arc Poetry Magazine, 17 July 2013
Eleonore Schönmaier…gives us these generously and subtly illuminated glimpses into rooms, conversations, lives…one also hears a constant music in the poetry. — Shawna Lemay, Canadian Poetries, 9 September 2013
“[Schönmaier]’s poems are often beautiful, lyrical, descriptive and calming. She writes about people kindly, she tackles history carefully.” –Jackie Wills, The Warwick Review, June 2104
“She is able to find beauty everywhere and express it so that you are transported …Schönmaier is able to give voice to the connection she has with the world and make it splendid…This is accomplished poetry.” –Michael Dennis, Today’s Book of Poetry, July 2016
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