Description
Selected by CBC Books as a 2021 Best Book of Poetry & Shortlisted for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Manuella Dias Award for Best Book Design
A gibbous moon arrives in shadow and light. First at waxing then at waning, two moons in one cycle just shy of full. Poet Dennis Cooley's eloquent words merge with photographer/composer Michael Matthews' decadent abstract photographs. These two celebrated artists draw connections and parallels to each other's masterful art forms, tying the two together seamlessly. The antecedent and subsequent illuminate the night sky with their dance; the shadows and the light taking turns at showing us the way through the darkness.
Poetry. Art.
“Both Matthews and Cooley catch the electric blue visions and voices of the stars at night. What a gorgeous collection, a stunning collaboration!”
— John Lent, author of A Matins Flywheel
“Enjoy this masterful book with Heisenberg’s indeterminacy principle in mind and the universe will unfold before you. Is this GIBBOUS MOON waxing or waning? Both of course, but we’ll never know for sure. Matthew’s cosmic and molecular abstract compositions appear as mass, while Cooley’s fluid particle physics verse tests its velocity. His is the score, and his is the recital. His is shown, and his seen. The spell of writing on the wave of beauty.”
— J. R. Léveillé, author of Ex Nihilo
"What happens when words walk the line of comprehensibility and its Other, when images one knows are based in the “visible” are made “abstract,” that is drawn from the visible into an entirely different terrain where the eye and brain are out to sea? What happens when a great poet and a great artist – originally a composer; now a composer and photographer – in other words, two great poets, juxtapose their images? Alchemy!"
— Oliver A. I. Botar
Author Bio
Dennis Cooley has lived most of his life on the Canadian prairies, where for over 40 years he has been active as teacher, editor, poet, critic, anthologist, publisher, mentor, and supporter of writing. His work has been immersed in family, the prairies, and a play with form. His most recent titles include three books of poetry—GIBBOUS MOON (At Bay Press, 2021), The Bestiary, cold press moon, and THE MUSE SINGS (At Bay Press, 2020).
Michael Matthews is a photographer and music composer. Inspired by the worlds of nature and literature, Matthews creates art that encourages us to step beyond the everyday, to dwell for a while in images of paradox, to consider the ever-changing tapestry of experience. Matthews is active both as a composer and a photographer. He has recently completed a major song cycle, Bloody Jack. His abstract and night photographs have been exhibited in Germany and the United States. In 2012 Matthews retired from twenty-seven years of full-time teaching at the Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music, University of Manitoba; he is now Professor Emeritus there. Matthews is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and currently lives and works in Berlin.
Author City: WINNIPEG, MB CAN