The Small Machine Talks: Dennis Cooley

I welcome dennis back for a second time

I had the pleasure of talking to dennis back in november 2020 and this year he returns to talk about his latest poetry collection, “body works” published by University of Calgary Press. It was a delightful conversation on the pleasure of writing about the body, the humour and wisdom in pain, use of 2nd person and addressing the reader and so many other things.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Note of Praise

body works is full of wonder, sorrow, farts, metaphor, humour and play. In this poetry collection, Cooley, the poet is once more a trickster, using language as he said in our previous conversation, as a site for play, speculation, and deceit. The lines and syllables twist in one direction and then in another. Puns are aplenty and references to songs, books are all part of the play. Figurative language expands our imagination and makes us look at the body from a different light, from a coffee-bean heart grinding in an enamel music box to eyes luminous as tropical fish.  in body works he addresses a reader directly about the inevitable decline and mortality of the body as secret but necessary information, but he also highlights what shines, what is worth living for: beauty, light, a low arctic fox as a reason to sing.

Thanks to Dennis Cooley for being on the show, to Charles for processing, to Jennifer Pederson for the intro/outro assistance and to all of you for listening and sharing the show. Stay tuned for October’s conversation with me, Elee Kraljii Gardiner and Christine McNair about writing about health issues.

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