"Through the city streets the bus launches / into the storm. Already the shapes, the terrain / outside is unfriendly, / the air wild as a monsoon. / People peer into the mirror of the night. / Th
"Through the city streets the bus launches / into the storm. Already the shapes, the terrain / outside is unfriendly, / the air wild as a monsoon. / People peer into the mirror of the night. / They move restlessly on the worn upholstery."
Laurence Hutchman dares readers to peer into the mirror of the night and connect with the world around them, travelling through time and space. He asks us to consider how we connect with time and preserve our stories. This collection explores both public history and personal history?on one page we contemplate the life of Anne Frank, then on the next we may learn of Hutchman's own great—grandmother, Annie O'Brien. Hutchman's poetry is at times heartbreaking and at times filled with wonder, but it is always hopeful. Just as time moves from past to present we all participate in an intertwining story, knit together by shared places.
"Late at night / after the day's search / we find the strands of thought, / love in the voice of many— tongued words, / in the midst of chaos."
Laurence Hutchman grew up in Toronto and graduated from Emery C.I.. He finished his BA in English in The University of Western Ontario in 1972, received his MA at Concordia University in 1979; and his PhD at the Universite de Montreal in 1988. He has taught at a number of universities including Concordia University, the University of Alberta, The University of Western Ontario, and The Universite de Moncton where he is currently a Full Professor. He was President of the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick from 2000—2002. Hutchman has had many readings and conducted many workshops in Canada, the United States, China, Ireland and Bulgaria. Hutchman lives with Eva Kolacz, the artist, in Oakville.
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