In Print
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New in March 2022: My poetry book, Climbing the Rain, Silver Bow Publishing, New Westminster, BC. ISBN 9781774032039 (print book); ISBN 9781774032046 (e-book). It was launched virtually on April 2, and launched live at the Art Bar, June 28. In June 2023 a video of readings from Climbing the Rain, accompanied by my visual art, was produced for the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto. See it here. From the back cover: "The joyous, insightful poems in Climbing the Rain are a culmination of Marvyne Jenoff's sixty year literary career. Odd notions, minute occurrences, wry observations, and some perceptive musings on a love relationship--all are expressed in exuberant wordplay. This collection will certainly delight and deeply move the reader." The title poem: Climbing the Rain Rain falls, from what beginning? I rise, toward what end? Both the print and the e-book can be ordered directly through me (preferred) or through bookstores, Barnes and Noble or Silver Bow Publishing. |
Anthology Publication
Marvyne's work is included in Hologram: an Homage to P.K.Page, in memory of this well-known Canadian poet and visual artist. Edited by Yvonne Blomer and D.C. Reid, the book was published in the fall, 2023 by Caitlin Press. This beautiful book includes poems and brief reminiscences by poets across the country and intersperses colour reproductions of some of Page’s visual art. Marvyne’s poem, "It’s There,” referencing her paintings based on hands, also appears in Climbing the Rain, her latest book of poetry, 2022.
It’s There
Doctors know it’s there, some artists, too:
that bump at the base of the thumb
with its little cheek.
Knitters discover it once we advance
to the four-needle knitting-in-the-round stage,
past socks, to gloves.
A firm ribbed cuff to warm the wrist
and then that tricky, satisfying part:
a fifth needle picks up stitches for a gusset;
each new row diagonally grows to protect
the jutting bone that branches sideways
like a winter tree.
The glove is easy to complete:
repeat in mirror image for its mate
and find another friend to knit for,
though it’s not the friend’s need
but the knitter’s.
Glove after glorious glove she makes
for the sake of making them.
A series of self-portraits are they,
not ironic drawings
nor paintings preserving age after age,
but portraits that fond repetition spawns.
The Warmth Giver lives long
in the practice of her ancient art,
embraces new approaches;
unimagined yarns excite her mind,
while all we knitters come at last to this:
the odd stitch disappears,
through our astonished fingers the yarn slips,
thumbs falter and protest in pain.
To soothe it, doctors say,
use ice.
Marvyne's work is included in Hologram: an Homage to P.K.Page, in memory of this well-known Canadian poet and visual artist. Edited by Yvonne Blomer and D.C. Reid, the book was published in the fall, 2023 by Caitlin Press. This beautiful book includes poems and brief reminiscences by poets across the country and intersperses colour reproductions of some of Page’s visual art. Marvyne’s poem, "It’s There,” referencing her paintings based on hands, also appears in Climbing the Rain, her latest book of poetry, 2022.
It’s There
Doctors know it’s there, some artists, too:
that bump at the base of the thumb
with its little cheek.
Knitters discover it once we advance
to the four-needle knitting-in-the-round stage,
past socks, to gloves.
A firm ribbed cuff to warm the wrist
and then that tricky, satisfying part:
a fifth needle picks up stitches for a gusset;
each new row diagonally grows to protect
the jutting bone that branches sideways
like a winter tree.
The glove is easy to complete:
repeat in mirror image for its mate
and find another friend to knit for,
though it’s not the friend’s need
but the knitter’s.
Glove after glorious glove she makes
for the sake of making them.
A series of self-portraits are they,
not ironic drawings
nor paintings preserving age after age,
but portraits that fond repetition spawns.
The Warmth Giver lives long
in the practice of her ancient art,
embraces new approaches;
unimagined yarns excite her mind,
while all we knitters come at last to this:
the odd stitch disappears,
through our astonished fingers the yarn slips,
thumbs falter and protest in pain.
To soothe it, doctors say,
use ice.
Poem published online in the League of Canadian Poets' Poetry Pause, November 18, 2022:
Fish Tank
Suppose, as I fell,
my head had hit the fish tank:
broken-off glass corner
deep in the side of my skull
familiar, like migraine
soothed by the slightly-warm
fish-temperature water
rivering onto the pale carpet
over the shards of glass and over me,
the water spilling carnivals of fish
to tumble over my thick blood
and flex themselves for freedom.
The spotted, striped, spectacularly-finned
--O, let me see their colours while I can--
fish off to find their ocean,
my ocean finding me.
This poem also appears in Climbing the Rain.
Fish Tank
Suppose, as I fell,
my head had hit the fish tank:
broken-off glass corner
deep in the side of my skull
familiar, like migraine
soothed by the slightly-warm
fish-temperature water
rivering onto the pale carpet
over the shards of glass and over me,
the water spilling carnivals of fish
to tumble over my thick blood
and flex themselves for freedom.
The spotted, striped, spectacularly-finned
--O, let me see their colours while I can--
fish off to find their ocean,
my ocean finding me.
This poem also appears in Climbing the Rain.
So Far: A Writing Life, is based on Marvyne's talk, Climbing the Rain: A Writing Life, at the Arts & Letters Club in October, 2019. A survey of her work from the early publications in the 1960s through her books past and future, it touches on her publication experiences, process of writing and how her writing has connected with her life and her creativity in other areas.
Designed, printed and bound by the author. Toronto: Twoffish Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-9739903-8-6, 24 pages, $15.00 (plus $2.00 postage when applicable). Order.
Image: So Far: A Writing Life in production, with long-armed stapler. The roller, upper left, makes a sharp fold in the final step.
The Leg and I: a memoir, is a lighthearted adventure of recovering from a broken femur out west. Told in the form of email messages, it has been designed, printed and bound by the author. Toronto: Twoffish Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-9739903-6-2, 28 pages, $15.00 (plus $2.00 postage when applicable). Order.
Anthology Publication
Marvyne's poem "Flying into Vancouver" is included in Heartwood: Poems for the Love of Trees, Toronto, League of Canadian Poets, 2018. This anthology, juried from the work of members of the League of Canadian Poets and edited by Lesley Strutt, is a fundraiser for ecological programs and youth poetry in Canada. Available on Amazon.ca.
Flying Into Vancouver
Mountains are higher than hotels
Hotels are higher than trees.
Mountains are older than trees
Trees are older than me
I am older than the hotel.
Hotels are built to forget,
but trees remember.
(Was my birth year good for you,
with a nice, fat growth ring?)
The mountains sit there, shedding snow.
Down below the water doodles,
prattles, saying nothing.
Trees enter my lone room.
We thrive, we tangle.
Marvyne's poem "Flying into Vancouver" is included in Heartwood: Poems for the Love of Trees, Toronto, League of Canadian Poets, 2018. This anthology, juried from the work of members of the League of Canadian Poets and edited by Lesley Strutt, is a fundraiser for ecological programs and youth poetry in Canada. Available on Amazon.ca.
Flying Into Vancouver
Mountains are higher than hotels
Hotels are higher than trees.
Mountains are older than trees
Trees are older than me
I am older than the hotel.
Hotels are built to forget,
but trees remember.
(Was my birth year good for you,
with a nice, fat growth ring?)
The mountains sit there, shedding snow.
Down below the water doodles,
prattles, saying nothing.
Trees enter my lone room.
We thrive, we tangle.
Embracing Minutiae, personal essays, literary humour. Toronto: Twoffish Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9739903-7-9,
20 pages, $10.00. Each copy has a separate photographic image pasted onto the cover.
Adapted from posts from a now inactive blog, www.imaginativeforays.wordpress.com, the essays incorporate feedback from readers. From the introduction: This book will not change the world, but I hope it will lighten our journey as we do so.
Poem, "Dinosaur Aloft," in the anthology Seek It—Writers and Artists Do Sleep,
Toronto, Red Claw Press, 2012
An Evening of Poetry. fiction. Toronto: Twoffish Press. 2010,
ISBN 978-0-9739903-5-5, 17 pages, $6.00. Epigraph by Jack Spicer: If somebody doesn't fight me I'll have to wear this armor all of my life. Written in 1976, this story was originally published in Canadian Woman Studies, Toronto: York University Press,1987, and the anthology, A Trip Around McFadden, a 70th birthday festschrift, ed. Jim Smith and Stuart Ross, Toronto, Front Press/Proper Tales Press, 2010.
Two oddly matched poets share a journey and a reading. The subtext explores the nature and power of poetry.
Dad, I’m sure you will agree that is condescension of the worst kind. No one should put up with that. It’s a good thing I was on my guard, for, putt-putting down the street at 5:06 exactly was a shiny motorbike with a cluster of balloons attached behind the back seat. And a young man on the driver’s seat. I guess he was expecting some girl he could impress, not an old-style teacher who’d survived the 1960s unscathed.
ISBN 978-0-9739903-5-5, 17 pages, $6.00. Epigraph by Jack Spicer: If somebody doesn't fight me I'll have to wear this armor all of my life. Written in 1976, this story was originally published in Canadian Woman Studies, Toronto: York University Press,1987, and the anthology, A Trip Around McFadden, a 70th birthday festschrift, ed. Jim Smith and Stuart Ross, Toronto, Front Press/Proper Tales Press, 2010.
Two oddly matched poets share a journey and a reading. The subtext explores the nature and power of poetry.
Dad, I’m sure you will agree that is condescension of the worst kind. No one should put up with that. It’s a good thing I was on my guard, for, putt-putting down the street at 5:06 exactly was a shiny motorbike with a cluster of balloons attached behind the back seat. And a young man on the driver’s seat. I guess he was expecting some girl he could impress, not an old-style teacher who’d survived the 1960s unscathed.
Happily Ever After, Toronto: Twoffish Press, 2006 (third edition, 2013) Fiction/Humour/Aging
ISBN 978-0-9739903-0-0, 8 pages, $5.00
An older relative secures her own happiness at a family wedding.
I hear they’re getting married in Hawaii, with the Canadian dollar worth only 50 cents US. They could have waited a year, just one year, till I’d be eligible for an airline discount. But nobody thinks of me.
ISBN 978-0-9739903-0-0, 8 pages, $5.00
An older relative secures her own happiness at a family wedding.
I hear they’re getting married in Hawaii, with the Canadian dollar worth only 50 cents US. They could have waited a year, just one year, till I’d be eligible for an airline discount. But nobody thinks of me.
Hercules by my Side, Toronto: Twoffish Press, 2006 (third printing, 2010) Fiction/Humour/Aging
ISBN 978-0-9739903-2-4, 14 pages, $6.00
An improbably old woman emulates Hercules.
I wheeled the new microwave up the long path though the park. I thought of poor Hercules rolling that boulder up a hill, not being able to stop it from rolling down, and having to roll it all the way up again. People have told me it wasn't Hercules with the boulder, it was Sisyphus. I say one doesn't get to my age without the courage of one's convictions.
ISBN 978-0-9739903-2-4, 14 pages, $6.00
An improbably old woman emulates Hercules.
I wheeled the new microwave up the long path though the park. I thought of poor Hercules rolling that boulder up a hill, not being able to stop it from rolling down, and having to roll it all the way up again. People have told me it wasn't Hercules with the boulder, it was Sisyphus. I say one doesn't get to my age without the courage of one's convictions.
The Emperor’s Body, fiction. Victoria BC: Ekstasis Editions, 1995
A progression of thirteen experimental fable-like stories based on well-known tales.
93 pages, $20.00
Partial contents:
▪ “Chicken Little, the Prophet”
▪ “The Beanstalk, et al.”
▪ “The Hare, the Tortoise, and the Human Race”
▪ “The Fox, the Grapes, and the Author”
▪ “Cinderella and All the Slippers: The Story of the Story”
It sometimes happens that a kingdom loses its sense of romance and falls into lassitude. The present story, a Cinderella story, found itself in such a kingdom.
A progression of thirteen experimental fable-like stories based on well-known tales.
93 pages, $20.00
Partial contents:
▪ “Chicken Little, the Prophet”
▪ “The Beanstalk, et al.”
▪ “The Hare, the Tortoise, and the Human Race”
▪ “The Fox, the Grapes, and the Author”
▪ “Cinderella and All the Slippers: The Story of the Story”
It sometimes happens that a kingdom loses its sense of romance and falls into lassitude. The present story, a Cinderella story, found itself in such a kingdom.