Tenderman - Softcover

Bowling, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 088971259X ISBN 13: 9780889712591

Publisher: Nightwood Editions, 2011

Synopsis

"I grew up in a blue-collar town ten minutes down the road from a white-collar town. And I've spent most of my life uncomfortable in both places."

With these opening words, accomplished poet Tim Bowling outlines the central tension that acts as a vital force in his newest book, Tenderman--the dichotomy between the sensitive poetic observer and the tough, working-class subject. Bowling returns again to the shores of his BC hometown that exert such a strong hold on his imagination, but through his focus on the tenderman figure, he also demonstrates wry self-awareness in doing so. The tenderman (a crewman on a salmon packing boat), who represents a fiercely independent everyman, acts as unintentional muse to the collection; its poems are often delivered through dialogues between poet and fisherman, reminiscences of their shared childhoods, or narratives delivered by the tenderman himself.

As always, Bowling's verse is stunning in its haunting portrayal of West Coast imagery, depicting both natural beauty ("the Spanish silhouette/ crouched in warm salt dark") and the grim realities of fishing ("The kicks and slaps of a hold of dying fish--/ hands in an auditorium") with effortless grace.

About this title

About the Author:

Tim Bowling has published numerous poetry collections, including Low Water Slack; Dying Scarlet (winner of the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry); Darkness and Silence (winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry); The Witness Ghost and The Memory Orchard (both nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award); and his Selected Poems (winner of the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize). Bowling's work in poetry and prose has been honoured with two Canadian Authors Association Awards; two Writers Trust of Canada nominations; a Guggenheim Fellowship; five Alberta Book Awards; the Acorn-Plantos People's Poetry Award; and a Roderick Haig Brown Award nomination. Bowling served as the 2015 Canadian judge for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.

Review:

The collection is full of vividly drawn characters and themes that give it real life, albeit a dark and by times merciless life...Bowling's Tenderman is a tremendous collection of poems -- relevant, outspoken and composed with a sharp blade, indeed.
--Peter Simpson, The Ottawa Citizen

About this edition

• Publisher: Nightwood Editions
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 088971259X
• ISBN 13: 9780889712591
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80