Letters I Didn't Write

By John MacKenzie

Letters I Didn't Write is a contemplative collection of poems imbued with a sense of longing for opportunities lost and lives unfulfilled. Acclaimed poet John Mackenzie explores a sweeping range of subjects, from the tragedies of war to the musings of a discouraged physics major to the violent end of Spanish poet Federico Garc 1/2a Lorca. At the centre of MacKenzie's collection is a series of poems inspired by country singer Hank Williams, an angel from Montgomery/who has written himself like a virus into music.

Ultimately, MacKenzie's finest skill is his ability to transport readers to a greater context of human relationships, community, and our search for home and a sense of belonging. His questioning brings us all closer to the fragments found scrawled/in the margins of silence, disaster, epiphany.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889712379
• ISBN13: 9780889712379
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Nightwood Editions
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

A moving volume of poetry

Inspiration can come from any source, be it old style country music or the science of physics. "Letters I Didn't Write" is John MacKenzie's anthology of poetry, a follow up to his critically acclaimed previous volumes. Drawing inspiration from many places but most importantly his own life, "Letters I Didn't Write" is a moving volume of poetry indeed. "The Bloom Is Not The Flower": This bloom is not a flower -- no,/ and this mist is not a rain.//She comes halfway through the night to warm me/but leaves me in the bright, cool dawn.//She comes like a dream of spring, all apple blossoms --/how long can these limbs bear her beauty?//She goes like cloud on a July morning,/and can't be found in all that blue.//Oh, the bloom is not the flower./And this mist not the sweet rain.