When I interviewed Canada's Most Vocal Local (designated same by me me me), the yip-yap snappy side of King George came back to bite him in the bum. If you did not read the piece — Why wouldn't you :)? — featuring on our blog last week located here, His Royal Loud-Mouthiness tore a high ick-schticker off the Sour-Gripes Gawd, Don Cherry (after I'd queried him concerning the heartbreaking state of Canadian poetry):
In a world in which Lindsay Lohan has replaced Samuel Beckett, in which Don whatzisname, the hockey-violence guy with the loud jackets, is on television and George Walker's plays are not, the writers' festivals and the newspapers have decided that poetry is entertainment and competition, that costumed people who say with pride that they don't read what's in the library stand up and recite clichés about their personal rebellions.
So, look who's squawking, er, talking to The Vancouver Sun's Yvonne Zacharias! Although Rudolph ain't able to play the vid, apparently it contains priceless Bowering Blabber-Mouth Offerings of the Finest Order, giving BullPen an entirely new meaning.
Aside from the stunning gorgeosity of GB's succinct assessment of CanLit and its attendant sentiments (expressed above), George oughtta peep-squawk the talk more. Somebody at CBC should get caught looking to give the guy a national phone-in talk show. Imagine: Bowering, CanLit's numero-uno second baseman and all-round utility in-fielder, launching an argurant concerning the down-dumbing of poetry, descanting passionately on various Olympic embarrassments vis-à-vis our literature or culture, reporting on his beloved (or bespicable) Canadians . . .
And, that's just for starters in the Bowering Corner of "IOW." In the same interview last week, BC's Friendly Giant, responding to a Q concerning the progress of his poetic life, described his first "real" appearance in print for us:
I wrote poems more and more, starting with narrative poems, leading to lyrics, mainly love poems. And I threw them away. I can remember when I decided to keep them, or at least some of them, something that became a little obsessive, perhaps, later on. It was when I turned 21, and was soon to get out of the RCAF and into UBC. I had already published my first poem while in the Air Force (where I also wrote for the RCAF Macdonald newspaper, The Rocketeer), a 26-stanza poem called The ABCs of the NHL. It was published in a national magazine called Hockey Pictorial . . .
It was published in that national magazine in November 1958. Promptly forgotten by all but Roy Miki (whose 1990 critical study, An Annotated Bibliography of George Bowering, contains a small reproduction of the original page), the periodical containing the poem took up permanent residence with the rest of Bowering's archives at the National Library in Ottawa.
"Hrm . . ." went me. "Permish to publish, S-V-P?"
"Sure," went GB. "Good luck," added he.
See? We'd hit PLANET SNAFUBAR. No electronic copy existed. If I could retrieve a copy of it from the National Library, we could feature it. Good luck? Great luck, actually. Award-winning author and CanLit Champ Jean Baird, George's wife and right-hand dame, made it all possible; thus, without further blabboo, we at "In Other Words" proudly present "The ABCs of the NHL," one of our national treasure's / living legend's first publication of poetry ever for you to view, too:
THE ABCs OF THE NHL
A is for Armstrong
George, the Big Chief.
Obviously,
A most valuable Leaf.
B is for Boom-Boom.
Big noise at the Forum.
If the Habs need six goals,
Bernie will score 'em.
C is for Cullen.
Brian and Barry.
To distinguish between
Is not necessary.
D is for Dickie.
Remarkable Duff.
A young future All-star.
This kid has the stuff.
E is for Evans.
Who looks pretty nice,
Except when you have to
Look up from the ice.
F is for Flaman
And Fernie and fighter,
One of the reasons
The Bruins are brighter.
G is for Godfrey
A blue line bruiser,
Built on the lines
Of a heavy cruiser.
H is for Howe.
Need we say more?
His efforts so often
Determine the score.
I is for Irvin.
A man we remember,
Whose teams would be twenty
Points up in December.
J is for Johnson.
The unknown man.
He holds them together
If anyone can.
K is for Kelly.
A wizard on skates.
Who keeps Red Wing boosters
Revolving the gates.
L is for Lindsay,
A man of no mystery.
His scoring has made him
Left-winger of history.
M is for Moore.
A high-scoring rage.
Whose fabulous shot
Stuffs the puck in the cage.
N is for Norris,
A recognised name.
The clan owns
50% of the game.
O is for Olmstead.
Who set up the line
Who poured all the rubber
Right into the twine.
P is for Plante,
The wandering man,
Who comes up with antics
Nobody else can.
Q is for quality,
This over all
Is the thing you will notice
Of classy Glenn Hall.
R is for Rocket,
A fast-moving missile,
The Habs now have two
Who will make your hair bristle.
S is for Sawchuk,
The man in a crouch,
Which never can be
Misconstrued as a slouch.
T is for Topper,
Boston's durable vet.
A good man to have
In front of the net.
U is for Ullman,
A maker of plays.
But scoring would win him
A lot more praise.
V is for Vasko.
A mountainous guy.
You'll never go through him,
And seldom get by.
W is for Watson,
A coach full of fire,
Who is pushing the Blueshirts
Higher and higher.
X is for danger,
The dramatists say.
(A tip) Stay out of
Jean Belliveau's way.
Y is for youth.
Which the Leafs have got.
And time will tell
If the team can get hot.
Z is for Zing,
And Zoom as well.
These words sum up
The NHL.
— November 1958
§¦:-•:*""*:•-:¦§
Z is also for Zowie,
I am sure you will agree.
Thank you, Jean & GB,
For granting this gift to we.
§¦:-•:*""*:•-:¦§
NOTABLE QUOTABLE: "Baseball happens to be a game of cumulative tension but football, basketball and hockey are played with hand grenades and machine guns." — John Leonard
(Hat tips, Jean Baird, David Morris, Laura Wong and Joe McDonald.)
(Photograph of George Bowering © 2010 Goddess Jean Baird. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. Bowering's baseball card, created by Talon Books to celebrate the publication of Baseball Love [2006], tells the rest of the story.)
