by Karen Solie
The Paris Review
“Museum of the Thing,” “Lord of Fog,” “Darklands,”
“Museum of the Thing II”
Eighteen Bridges
“Rothko via Muncie, Indiana”
The Humber Literary Review
“Interior,” “A Good Hotel in Rotterdam,” “Prospect”
Magma
“When Asked Why He’d Been Talking to Himself, Pyrrho Replied He Was Practicing to Be a Nice Fellow,” “Your News Hour Is Now Two Hours”
Vallum
“Via”
Room
“I Let Love In,” “Lift Up Your Eyes,” “All That Is Certain Is Night
Lasts Longer Than the Day,” “Sault Ste. Marie,” “Against Lyric”
Brick
“Keebleville,” “Forty”
Studio (online)
“Birth of the Rifle”
The Dark Horse
“Roof Repair and Squirrel Removal”
The Walrus
“Life Is a Carnival”
Cordite Poetry Review
“For the Ski Jump at Canada Olympic Park, Calgary”
Tag: Canadian Poets at Play
“The Midlands”
Poetry London
“The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out,” “Conversion,” “Spiral”
The New Quarterly
“Spiral”
Hazlitt (online)
“Conversion”
A significant number of these poems previously appeared in The Living Option: Selected Poems. Sincere thanks to Neil Astley and Bloodaxe Books.
The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, the University of St. Andrews, and Barns-Graham Charitable Trust provided crucial financial and professional support toward the completion of this book.
I’m deeply grateful to Jonathan Galassi for his encouragement and his faith in this book. And to Sarah MacLachlan, Kelly Joseph, and everyone at House of Anansi, for their work and care.
As always, to my family, who are in every word.
Thanks to Ken Babstock, Kevin Connolly, Michael Helm, Michael Redhill, Christopher Richards, Damian Rogers, and David Seymour, for their insight and generosity as readers.
And especially, to James Langer.
A Note About the Author
Karen Solie was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Her collections of poems include Short Haul Engine, Modern and Normal, Pigeon, and The Living Option. She has received the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. The Living Option was named one of the best poetry books of 2013 by the National Post (Toronto) and The Independent (London). Solie lives in Toronto. You can sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY KAREN SOLIE
SHORT HAUL ENGINE
MODERN AND NORMAL
PIGEON
THE LIVING OPTION:
SELECTED POEMS
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Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
DEDICATION
Ode
The Corners
Rental Car
Fables of the Reconstruction
A Western
When Asked Why He’d Been Talking to Himself, Pyrrho Replied He Was Practicing to Be a Nice Fellow
Affirmations
Museum of the Thing
The World
Your News Hour Is Now Two Hours
Childhood Triptych
Be Reasonable
The National Gallery
Rothko via Muncie, Indiana
Interior
Mole
Via
I Let Love In
Lift Up Your Eyes
All That Is Certain Is Night Lasts Longer Than the Day
Keebleville
Birth of the Rifle
The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out
Forty
Life Is a Carnival
Roof Repair and Squirrel Removal
Sault Ste. Marie
Wrap Party
Conversion
The National Gallery II
The Midlands
Lord of Fog
Darklands
A Good Hotel in Rotterdam
Trouble Light
Bitumen
Prospect
Museum of the Thing II
Rural Conflation Sonnet
For the Ski Jump at Canada Olympic Park, Calgary
Against Lyric
Spiral
Man Is a Rational Animal
The Living Option
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY KAREN SOLIE
COPYRIGHT
FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX
18 WEST 18TH STREET, NEW YORK 10011
COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY KAREN SOLIE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2015 BY
HOUSE OF ANANSI PRESS, CANADA
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
BY FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, 2015
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eISBN 9780374713584
FIRST EBOOK EDITION: APRIL 2015