Gaspereau Press - Book Information

Carmine Starnino

Carmine Starnino has published five collections of poetry, including This Way Out, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award in 2009 and recently translated into French by Éditions Hashtag under the title Par Ici La Sortie. His most recent collection is Leviathan. His other books include The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry and Lazy Bastardism, a collection of essays on contemporary poetry. He has received numerous awards, including the CAA Prize for Poetry, the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and the F.G. Bressani Prize, in addition to being shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Prize for the best first book of poetry. He lives in Montreal with his wife and three children.

[ Large Image ]	With English Subtitles Carmine Starnino 2004 / Poetry / $18.95 9781894031899 / Trade paper / 80 pp With English Subtitles is Carmine Starnino at his most inventive. The poems in this collection are exceptionally focused, musical and inviting. Household objects, Italian relatives, Yukon landscapes, worst-case scenarios and relationships are pushed onto the page with new-found urgency and delight. Here for the first time, Starnino has set aside the restraint of his earlier work in favour of a bold swagger and forthright musicality. Starnino’s fascination with old objects is translated into poems that combine history and close scrutiny with lively personification and corresponding sound. These poems capture the true energy and anima of supposedly inanimate items. The aged suitcase exudes an air of hurry and persistence, “still champing to be off.” The iron gives a “suspirating hush as it catches its breath.” For each of these items, Starnino locates a pulse and charts the specifics of its breathing. Coupled with this energy is a focus on the process of decay and the beauty contained therein. Junkyard, charity auction, failed relationship and autumn all center on the varied and tenuous aesthetic of rust. The poems in this collection are sensual, abundant and rushing. Starnino builds towers of sound and rhythm, introducing all the whim and decadence of bygone days to modern pragmatics and speech. His inventive use of language and personable interruptions draw readers inside an understanding of the world that is both grounded and imaginative. The result is a watertight and satisfying collection: poetry that proves resoundingly that art and life depend on one another for inspiration. This book is a Smyth-sewn paperback with cover flaps. The text was typeset by Andrew Steeves in Octavian and printed on Rolland Zephyr Laid paper. The cover is hand-printed letterpress. Winner of the 2004 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and winner of the 2006 F.G. Bressani Literary Prize. To purchase this title: Add it to your cart Review: “This stunning work reclaims the style of A.M. Klein’s Joycean poetry, gnashing on juicy verbs, relishing puns, souping-up great stews of lingo, and salting, peppering, sugaring English by laying bare its Italian and Latin roots. . . With English Subtitles is beautifully subversive.” George Elliott Clark, Halifax Chronicle Herald “The poems in Carmine Starnino’s third collection are bold and original, breathing fresh perspective into familiar subjects. Starnino crafts poems hat not only push the form’s envelope but stuffs that envelope with imaginative ideas.” David Silverberg, Quill & Quire
	Other Books by this Author
	Dirty Words: Selected Poems 1997-2016 Carmine Starnino 2020 / Canadian Poetry / $26.95 CAN 9781554472123 / Trade paper / 192 pp
	Leviathan Carmine Starnino 2016 / Poetry / $18.95 CAN 9781554471546 / Trade paper / 80 pp
	Lazy Bastardism: Essays & Reviews on Contemporary Poetry Carmine Starnino 2012 / Literary Criticism / $27.95 CAN 9781554471188 / Trade paper / 272 pp
	This Way Out Carmine Starnino 2009 / Poetry / $18.95 CAN 9781554470518 / Trade paper / 80 pp