A Calendar of Reckoning
- Author Name: Dave Margoshes
- Award Year: 2019
- Publisher: Coteau Books
- Publication Date: 2018
- ISBN: 9781550509373
- Tags: Shortlist: Poetry Award
About the Book
Family, death, love, longing, retrospection: these are all of the themes Dave Margoshes touches on in his new poetry collection, and first in almost a decade. With careful attention to detail, and evocative turns of phrase, Margoshes introspectively looks back on youth. Intriguing metaphors, reminiscent of pastoral imagery, creates a sharp contrast between the heavy subject matter of one’s own mortality, and the beautiful, evocative comparisons between humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom, particularly birds and trees. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, is juxtaposed with the desire to give in to temptation, and become one with the world, as Margoshes makes most evident in his final poem, “Wisdom”, a fitting end to a collection that would have the reader struggling between reconciling their past and present
About the Author
DAVE MARGOSHES is a full-time writer who has published more than a dozen books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. His collection of stories, Bix’s Trumpet and Other Storie, was a two-time winner in the Saskatchewan Book Awards as well as being a finalist in the ReLit Awards. His three novels include Drowning Man, I Am Frankie Stern, and We Who Seek: A Love Story. He has published four other story collections, five volumes of poetry and several non-fiction works, including a biography of Tommy Douglas. He has had stories and poems published in dozens of magazines and anthologies in Canada and the United States (included six times in Best Canadian Stories), had work broadcast on CBC, and given readings across the country. His awards include the Stephen Leacock Prize for Poetry and a number of Saskatchewan Book Awards. He was also a finalist for the Journey Prize. Some of his stories and poems spring from his days at an itinerant journalist. Margoshes worked for daily newspapers in eight cities, including San Francisco, New York, Calgary and Vancouver, covering everything from politics to murder to cat shows. He's also taught journalism. He currently lives near Saskatoon.