Near the centre of Marrying the Animals, Cornelia Hoogland's new book of poetry, is the sequence "In the Meantime: Elizabeth Smart Poems" Hoogland's exploration of Smart's obsession with the poet George Barker is an apt heart for this volume, for its abiding spirit is passion. With feather touch and "kelp green longing," Hoogland pauses over the minutiae of the daily, of the loved. Her lyric intensity embraces family, friends, lovers and literature. Yet she never ignores the untameable passion that circumscribes both love and language, and shades the familiar into wilderness.

With time, I got better at seeing him off at the gate, the harbour; all the exits. It took days to rid the chair, cup, windowlight of his image. And then the long in-the-meantime learning chair, cup over again. from "In the Meantime: Elizabeth Smart Poems"

Cornelia Hoogland has published five poetry collections, most recently, Woods Wolf Girl (Wolsak and Wynn, 2011). Her poetry has been published internationally and has been short-listed for the CBC Literary Awards on multiple occasions. Hoogland is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario , and is the founder and the co-artistic director of Poetry London, an organization that brings prominent writers into lively discussion with local writers and readers. Hoogland divides her time between London, Ontario, and Hornby Island, BC.

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