In a world where text is "as fluid as the rain we see running in the streets," and the printed word "a monument as fragile as the grass," what is the place of poetry? Impressionistic, seasonal, inspired by the Pleiade and the poets of present-day Quebec, this calendar of 144 "light sonnets" is a measured meditation on art and mutability.

Born in Montreal in 1947, Robert Melançon studied at the Université de Montréal and in Tours where he wrote his doctorate on French baroque poetry. He has published three books of poems: Inscriptions (1987), Peinture aveugle which won the Governor General's Award in 1979, and Territoire (1981). This book is based on a revised version of Peinture aveugle.

Robert Melancon's profile page

Judith Cowan was born in Nova Scotia, but grew up in Toronto. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures. She received an M. A. in French literature from the University of Toronto, followed by an M. A. in English literature from York University. She received a Ph. D. in Canadian Comparative Literature from L’Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, and went on to teach literature in English at L’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivères until the end of the twentieth century.Her stories have appeared in a number of literary magazines, including Quarry Magazine, Queen’s Quarterly, The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, and The Antigonish Review. In French translation, they have also been published in Liberté, XYZ : la revue de la nouvelle, and L’Atelier du Roman (Paris). She was one of the original contributors to Ellipse magazine, where she has published English translations of individual poems by many Québec poets. She is the only English-language writer in Trois-Rivières, Québec.

Judith Cowan's profile page

"Poetry, in Melançon's hands, is a way of seeing." - Good Reports.net

"One hundred forty-four poems of acute observation: Melançon's invention is impressive. Judith Cowan's rendering of the poet's work into English is adroit and fully idiomatic." - Montreal Review of Books

Brilliant ... One hundred and fortyfour poems of acute observation. - Montreal Review of Books