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Dipped in Shadow
Claire Harris is one of Canada's most powerful poets. "Dipped in Shadow" shows her at her strongest, the book's five poems making hard-hitting statements about women and their children.
"O what are you thinking my sisters," the book's foreword, draws women of all races together in the fundamental facts of female life: fear for themselves and fear for their children. In "Night Dances," a frightening story of sexual and physical abuse, knife-sharp language and experimental form expand words far beyond their usual connotations. "Sister (Y)our Manchild" reminds women that the cruellest soldiers in the most vicious wars are their babies; they have nurtured evil in their beautiful children. "This Fierce Body" reviews the life of a young man dying of AIDS as friends watch at his bedside. Experimental form and language make "Woeman Womb Prisoned," a harrowing evocation of a teenager in childbirth, both moving and provocative.
"O what are you thinking my sisters," the book's foreword, draws women of all races together in the fundamental facts of female life: fear for themselves and fear for their children. In "Night Dances," a frightening story of sexual and physical abuse, knife-sharp language and experimental form expand words far beyond their usual connotations. "Sister (Y)our Manchild" reminds women that the cruellest soldiers in the most vicious wars are their babies; they have nurtured evil in their beautiful children. "This Fierce Body" reviews the life of a young man dying of AIDS as friends watch at his bedside. Experimental form and language make "Woeman Womb Prisoned," a harrowing evocation of a teenager in childbirth, both moving and provocative.
- GenresPoetry
120 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1996
About the author
Claire Harris
18 books3 followersClaire Harris is a Canadian poet of Trinidadian background who has produced over eight collections of poems since her first volume, Fables from the Women’s Quarters (1984), which won the Commonwealth Award for Poetry for the Americas Region. Her 1992 volume, Drawing down a daughter was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Her Travelling to Find a Remedy won the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Poetry Award in 1987. Her work has been included in more than 70 anthologies and has been translated into German and Hindi.
Claire Harris was born (1937) in Trinidad, West Indies, studied at University College, Dublin where she earned a B. A. Honours in English (1961). At the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) she earned a Diploma in Education (1963). She came to Canada in 1966 and settled in Calgary where she taught English until 1994. In 1975, during a study leave in Nigeria, she first wrote for publication and was encouraged by Nigerian poet, J.P. Clark. She also earned a Diploma in Communications from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (1975). After returning to Canada Claire Harris became active in the literary community in Calgary working as poetry editor at Dandelion from 1981-89 and helping to found the all-Alberta magazine, blue buffalo, in 1983. As an active member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta she was a reader-judge for several literary awards.
Many of Harris’s poems deal with the problems of injustice whether it is in colonial or post-colonial regions or in violence against women. Even in, Drawing down a daughter, a collection of personal poems on friendship, love and motherhood there are many references to the condition of African-Canadians.
Claire Harris was born (1937) in Trinidad, West Indies, studied at University College, Dublin where she earned a B. A. Honours in English (1961). At the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) she earned a Diploma in Education (1963). She came to Canada in 1966 and settled in Calgary where she taught English until 1994. In 1975, during a study leave in Nigeria, she first wrote for publication and was encouraged by Nigerian poet, J.P. Clark. She also earned a Diploma in Communications from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (1975). After returning to Canada Claire Harris became active in the literary community in Calgary working as poetry editor at Dandelion from 1981-89 and helping to found the all-Alberta magazine, blue buffalo, in 1983. As an active member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta she was a reader-judge for several literary awards.
Many of Harris’s poems deal with the problems of injustice whether it is in colonial or post-colonial regions or in violence against women. Even in, Drawing down a daughter, a collection of personal poems on friendship, love and motherhood there are many references to the condition of African-Canadians.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 9, 2013
This is an outstanding collection of poetry, I'm not sure why it doesn't appear to be popular. I discovered it while working on a paper about Canadian poets and fell in love with it. Claire Harris's poetry reads like music, she gets the rhythm of each poem flowing so cleanly and that rhythm draws the reader into the poem, making us feel like we are wrapped up within it.
In this collection Harris deals with "hot topics" such as HIV and incest, but does so in a fresh way. It's been many years I think since I actually sat down with the book but I still remember from heart some of it:
"Here we reach
how we reach
for the moon
with our teeth"
"Dying
you say to all that crowded life
pray you're conscious
you wouldn't want to miss it
what now you've come to it so soon
I can't hear the flutter of wings anywhere"
In this collection Harris deals with "hot topics" such as HIV and incest, but does so in a fresh way. It's been many years I think since I actually sat down with the book but I still remember from heart some of it:
"Here we reach
how we reach
for the moon
with our teeth"
"Dying
you say to all that crowded life
pray you're conscious
you wouldn't want to miss it
what now you've come to it so soon
I can't hear the flutter of wings anywhere"
Displaying 1 of 1 review