Download Alden Nowlan - Avon View High School

Alden Nowlan
The Pride of
HANTS COUNTY
A little history for your minds
He was born in Windsor, Nova
Scotia in January 25, 1933.
Alden was an odd child. He didn’t
enjoy school and only went until
gr. 5
His first job was at my
Grandfather’s mill
He was raised by his
Grandmother.
When his Grandmother died, he
admitted himself into the Nova
Scotia Hospital for the mentally ill.
It was there where he was
encouraged to presue writing.
My Selection of Poems
Edna
She's got the right eyes
and the separate laughs,
the silly, on-purpose one
she gives to adults,
the wise, just-happens one
she keeps to herself.
Too bad God
in letting her be eight forever
didn't remember to stop all the clocks
at the same time
so that instead of
those mildewed ropes
brusting out of
elastic stockings
she had hopscotch legs
that go in all direction
sat once, and the funny kind of beauty
we try to meet
with gentle laughter
The Smelt Run
Smelts rot on the riverbank
there are so many
some of the men
comb them out with rakes
to prove that it can be done.
They build fires
on the mudbanks at night
an get drunk fishing
with nets and jig-hooks.
They fish half the night
emptying their scoop nets
in the mud by the fires
laughing at one another.
Some of the fish
are eaten, not many,
they are small and full
of tough bones--mostly
they rot of the bank
but every night
the men come back for more
Baptism
Along the river, women sings of sin
and girls in dripping dresses dry their hair,
and giggle in the water, half-afraid
of thoughts as high and marvellous as prayer.
The preacher's hands are certain like his faith,
and sweep reborn devotees from the womb
of cleansing water where they hymn in praise
of Him who rose who broke a stronger tomb.
And when they wade, enwrapped in towels, to shore
the girls like damp young angels stop to greet
their younger sisters, whom they bless with tears
and kiss--with new and womanly conceit.
The Anatomy of Angels
Angels inhabit love songs. But they're sprites
not seraphim. the angel that up-ended
Jacob had sturdy calves, moist hairy armpits,
stout loins to serve the god whom she befriended,
and was adept at wrestling. She wore
a cobra like a girdle. Yet his bone
mending he spent some several tedious weeks
marking the bed they’d shared, with a great stone.
The review of
The Atonomy of Angels
Alden Nowlan’s poetry is as unique as he is. I read Elizabeth Bieman’s
Wrestling with Nowlan’s Angel. It is a literary criticism of The Anatomy of
Angels, an (as she called it) playful little poem.
Throughout the poem, there is a lot of very complicated meanings which
have puzzled people. The question that comes up a lot is, what sex is the
angel? In the Bible, it is really not clear but in the poem the angel seems to
go from man to woman.
Most believe that the angel is a female, making a reference to Eve. I do not
think the angel is representing anyone. I believe the angel is just a common
angel among God.
This poem can be seen in many different lights. The way I view it is probably
different from the way you visioned it. Bieman’s literary criticism was
interesting but do you have to pick a poem apart that thoroughly to
apperciate is? Yes, it is good to understand what the poet is writing about
but let poetry be poetry, let your mind wonder and just enjoy it for what it is
worth.