| Kim Morrissey - books used as University Texts: OTHER BOOKS | NEW WORK |
 These are the last poems ever written at Batoche; technically, Batoche no
longer exists. In the summer of 1983, the federal government
announced it was spending six million dollars to develop the Batoche
museum. Then, on Remembrance Day 1983, Canada Post closed the
Batoche Post Office at Chenier's Store. Permanently. There was no
public protest.
There were 700 people on the lists of the post office at Batoche in 1885; 700 people now almost forgotten. These poems are made up of their rumours, innuendo, gossip, news and dreams; a sort of Spoon River Anthology with politics. The histories are deliberately incomplete. Louis Schmidt's explanation of why Batoche is called Batoche is a found poem. There are others: Riel's "Address to the Jury," the child's "mr dumas says riels better because," Maxine Lepine's account of Fish Creek, and Middleton's summation. Other poems use the phrases and prejudices of the time and the speech rhythmns of the people: not-quite-found-poems. I like to call them "Speculative Realism." This collection is for the people of Batoche who had no voice, people who just put their heads down and lived on, under the 'benevolence' of a government they could never quite trust: people like Madame Riel, who faced her husband's death, and her own, with quiet dignity. She was left with a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter. She was expecting a third, which she miscarried because she was starving and in the last stages of tuberculosis. This collection is also for the people I have known at Batoche: for Charlie Cox and his wife Darlene, president of the local Métis Association when I knew her, for Jimmy Fiddler and his race horses, for Clarence Grenier who told me about his great-grandmother watching Middleton's troops march through her kitchen, for Octave Fiddler, who can fix anything, for Grace Buniak. It is also for my late husband, Roy Morrissey. Other poets who have struggled with historical reconstruction know it is not enough to know the facts, you must go away and dream. Roy allowed me eight years to dream and to work alongside him on our farm near Batoche; eight years to think and rethink the Resistance of 1885. "Using her skills as a researcher, dramatist and poet, Kim Morrissey brings to life the once silent pages of our history with a clear and simple eloquence." - Lorna Crozier "At
first, the new Prairie poets were mostly male, but in time a number
of important women poets have appeared, including Anne Campbell,
Lorna Crozier, Leona Gom, Kim Morrissey and Anne Szumigalski."
- Doulgas Barbour • Third prize, 1987 CBC Literary Award _______________________________________________________________ The
writer can be contacted by e-mail at home | history | the composer | the production _______________________________________________________________ Comparative
Themes Stockists: Kim Morrissey's books can be ordered directly from Coteau Books or can be ordered through any good bookstore. They are also available internationally through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. New and second-hand copies in Europe, Australia and North America can be found through Bookfinder.com. |
| VIEW OF BATOCHE (Photo Credit: Gary Robbins) COURSE DESCRIPTIONS | Kim Morrissey - books used as University Texts: OTHER BOOKS | NEW WORK |
