sewn paper
Ms Cassie broadsides
Poetry
1993
96 pages
ISBN 0-88984-174-8
$9.95
Mogul Recollected
Richard OutramIn 1836 an elephant drowned off the coast of New Brunswick.
Poet Richard Outram explores the significance of this bizarre occurrence
in his brilliant new volume of poetry, Mogul Recollected.
These witty and profound poems recreate the dismal conditions
of Mogul's existence before he plunged to his death during a ship fire.
Some are told from the point of view of Mogul himself, others from the
perspective of ruthless trainers and circus owners. Recasting the tragedy
as an inversion of the Noah's Ark story, Outram delineates with
startling clarity man's betrayal of beast.
`And what Outram does with this conceit is nothing short of magnificent:
He has written several dozen poems - some intricately rhymed, others prose-y,
nearly all memorable - from the point of view of Mogul's sadistic trainer,
and even in Mogul's own ``words'', and the result is haunting, moving,
shattering, unforgettable.... Oh dear reader: Buy this book and share it.
You will thank me many times over. It is a masterpiece.' Victoria Times-Colonist
`At first glance, this book seems simply to exploit an absurd and obscure moment
in history. But Outram illuminates that moment and gives it meaning. He tells Mogul's
story with grace and humour and majesty, in language that sometimes echoes Milton and Blake.
And those who lament the passing of rhyme in Canadian poetry will be happy to see
it used often, with considerable wit, in several pieces here.' - Atlanta Review
`These poems unsettle us with their wit and outrage, and with bardic
visionary power and love move us to recognize the beauty and suffering
of all creation.' - Ottawa Citizen
`These are clearly the poems of a virtuoso. Few poets now writing (here
or elsewhere) have displayed throughout their work such an accurate sense
of rhythm. I think of an earlier collection - Man in Love - and such poems
as Dr Doolittle and Spring at the Cottage, in which the unapologetically
latinate phrasing moves as nimbly as the Monarch butterfly on its cover. In
Mogul Recollected this same ease of breath is evident in a wide variety of forms,
from the biblically weighted The Prophet of Penobscot Bay to the scat-snappy
The Insane Root.' - paperplates
`Richard Outram is one of the finest poets in the English language.' Alberto Manguel
`At the most lyrical of moments, fractured time, objects,
and idiosyncratic details are telescoped and set awhirl in Outram's
swirling style.' Quill & Quire
Photo by Barbara Howard
Outram married painter and wood engraver Barbara Howard in 1957. Together, they produced many fine books and broadsides under their imprint, the Gauntlet Press. In 1999, poet and artist were celebrated with an exhibition of their work at the Robarts Library, University of Toronto, and the publication of a special issue of The Devil's Artisan: A Journal of the Printing Arts (Number 44). A cyber-exhibition of Gauntlet Press broadsides, entitled Ms Cassie, is featured on the Porcupine's Quill web site.
Richard Outram, stricken by grief over the loss of his beloved Barbara, took his life by his own hand in January of 2005.