Sid Mary is a voice to be reckoned with.
Beloved for his intimate, lyrical poetry, Marty’s depiction of selfhood, connection to place and to landscape have proven him a unique and dissenting voice in Canadian literature as well as a consistent presence in the Canadian environmental movement. These are poems, often strongly resonant of western speech, that celebrate all the vicissitudes of rural life, the loves and losses, the valleys and peaks of life on the prairies, foothills and in the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia.
This first-ever collected works, featuring forward written by Kit Dobson and Owen Percy, and interview conducted by Pamela Banting, brings together old and new poems, published and unpublished works, in a celebration of the career and artistry of a Western Canadian icon.
About the Author :
Sid Marty is a poet, author and musician based near the communities of Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass. He is the author of five books of poetry and five nonfiction works. Though best known as a nonfiction author, he began his career as a poet. His first book, Headwaters (1973 ) was published to widespread national acclaim. Over the years, he has continued to publish poems in books, school texts, anthologies and magazines. The culmination of all that dedication to the “crafte so longe to lerne” is this collection of poems both published and new.
These are poems, often strongly resonant of western speech, that celebrate all the vicissitudes of rural life, the loves and losses, the valleys and peaks of life on the prairies, foothills and in the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia.
Review :
“A much wider range of communicable emotion is that of Sid Marty, who may well be our finest lyric poet.”
—M. Travis Lane in “Contemporary Canadian Verse The View From Here”, University of Toronto Quarterly
“Among these mountain men poets, it is Sid Marty, so far — I gather — volumeless, whom I find the most varied and rewarding.” —George Woodcock, “Swarming of Poets”, Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review
“Sharp and clean as a glacier ridge”
—William French , Globe and Mail
“…intense, beautiful, honest and moving”
—Marty Gervais, Windsor Star
“Marty’s images are plain as the worn haft of a favorite knife but they are attached to a glittering metaphysical blade.
—Stephen Hume, Edmonton Journal
“Oldman's River is a book that collects poems rooted in a particular place. Sweetgrass and mountain pine almost waft from the pages. Sid Marty's poems are southern Alberta.” — Jay Gamble, Alberta Views
”Sid Marty’s work in a variety of forms has delighted and challenged readers over several decades but he remains at heart a poet, whose lyrical voice, rooted in personal experience, evokes the mountains of Western Canada with unflinching insight and authenticity. It is now gathered in a rich, readable, and thought-provoking volume of collected poems, with a generous helping of new work. It’s a feast for the reader, a wonderful testament to the creative imagination and to the world of mountains and prairies - but it’s also a call to action.“ — Tony Whittome, 2023 Banff Mountain Book Competition Jury
