Geoff Inverarity writes poems for people who don’t like poetry (and those who do).
In this debut collection Inverarity writes of broken things, things that have come apart at the seams, things that ought not to but sometimes do dissolve with time: friendships, relationships, promises, aging parents, hearts, bodies, love, and even time itself. But it’s not all shattered dreams and sad-luck stories here, there is hope and optimism too — in the future, in the Now, and in the heat and power of the coming generations. And there are poems of memory, poems for grandfathers and aging aunts, children and lost loves. Inverarity also probes the the multitude of possibilities “in this fallen world of compromises,” gently reminding us that “we’re stockpiling for the short term / the long term we don’t know. / No matter how much you prepare / there’s always something new looming / like the Unexploded Grief Bomb.” It is a world where we struggle to give back the past, to finally get to the point “where the past does not exist” and “where all history is now.”
Father of three, grandfather of two, Geoff lives with his partner on Galiano Island. He’s produced and written a number of award-winning short films, taught literature and Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, and has also won awards for his screenplays, poetry, and non-fiction prose. He’s a frequent poetry contributor to Geist magazine and is currently the Director of the Galiano Island Literary Festival.
