Review of Catherine Greenwood\u27s The Lost Letters

Hansen, Vivian M, Ms.

English

Scholars Commons

The Goose
Volume 13 | No. 2 Article 30
2-24-2015
The Lost Letters by Catherine Greenwood
Vivian M. Hansen Ms.
University of Calgary
Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America
Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, and the Place and Environment Commons
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Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrante
de la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactez
scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation / Citation recommandée
Hansen, Vivian M.. "The Lost Letters by Catherine Greenwood." The Goose, vol. 13 , no. 2 , article 30, 2015,
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol13/iss2/30.
A Collage of Letters 
The Lost Letters by CATHERINE 
GREENWOOD 
Brick Books, 2013 $20.00 
Reviewed by VIVIAN HANSEN 
This collection revolves around the lost 
letters and love between Heloise and 
Abelard, twelfth-century lovers whose 
passion for each other was unrequited. In 
“Notes,” Greenwood gives a brief account 
of the lovers and their unfortunate 
directions: 
By most accounts, Abelard seduced the 
teenaged Heloise, and after the birth of 
their son and a secret marriage, 
Heloise’s uncle Fulbert punished 
Abelard by having him castrated. 
Abelard continued his academic 
pursuits, while Heloise reluctantly 
joined a convent. 
This is the stuff of great story, and 
Greenwood approaches her specific poetry 
by retelling the letters between Abelard 
and Heloise as they rediscover each other 
later in life. 
  However, the more compelling part 
of this work is Greenwood’s range of 
diverse poetic style. Thematically, the 
range of the text encompasses small things 
that are overlooked and re-examined. The 
“eeny-meany-est” details venture into 
snapshots of our contemporary world and 
enable the reader to look beyond the story 
of Heloise and Abelard. Greenwood 
honours one-word poems: “kernel, liquid, 
snooze, a bat,” words which suddenly hold 
discursive power within the lines of a 
poem. They hold imagistic nomenclature 
that allows us unique engagement with the 
referential points of our human 
experience.  
 Narrational observations 
encompass rhetorical questions: “How 
many sets of hands / does it take to open 
hope, unscrew / the lid tightened on that 
jar of misguided longings?” Greenwood 
delivers a set of kennings about a 
mermaid: “shy sea nun,” the sibilants 
slipping easily into the sand of the poem. 
Greenwood’s considerable nod to the 
masterful Don McKay and his book Vis-à-
Vis allows for a reworking of the concept of 
the "nest,” the vis-à-vis of origins; just as 
McKay refers to nest-building as a bonding 
ritual, “an attempt to summon something 
out of nothing” (102), Greenwood 
describes it as “broomstraw, cornsilk / 
culled from the compost box.” The 
meaning-nests she creates are sometimes 
offered in fragments: 
Fragment 52 
] 
] 
- ] and potatoes! [ 
-  
]   thoughts [ 
] 
Buried under the ground 
] 
Cultural clichés are re- and defamiliarized: 
“We are weary of pondering / the long and 
short of it all—buy high, sell low?” 
Greenwood’s attempt to describe the 
moment:  
Sentimental music makes my nipples 
itch. Despite / determined twiddling of 
the dial / I still pull in the same curdled 
1
Hansen: The Lost Letters
Published by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2015
signal, / shaggy as the ecstatic tussle of 
interplanetary dust / bunnies breeding 
beneath the bed. 
There is the exquisite muscle of simile that 
snapshots the image: “The other leg / is 
hooked over your knee / like a carefully 
latched gate.” This strategy of poetic links 
is an open letter to form and content, a 
delightful nest and a collage of sequence 
and consequence.  
  Moving back to Heloise and 
Abelard, thudding rain is heard in “Another 
Day in the Scriptorium:” 
Downpour. Dreams dissolving  
in a denture mug. Snug oblivion  
breached by the carillon alarm, 
a cruel harpoon of light drags me 
from the shallow refuge sought 
in my cups each soul-dark night./ 
Sloshed  
How can someone experience too much 
alliteration, when its arrangements induce 
such entry into the moments shared 
between the two lovers? A rhyming 
sequence and internal rhyme is also well-
placed: 
Here lies a matchless passion igniter/ 
extinct as a spark without a lighter 
From lack of love the Lusty One 
succumbed to spontaneous 
combustion.  
Greenwood demonstrates a flexible 
but strong poetic ability, which allows the 
reader to maneuver between the re-telling 
of Heloise and Abelard and the worlds that 
are too small for us to see. Greenwood 
reveals her gift of poetic magnification in 
The Lost Letters, projecting a renewal and 
restoration of the senses. 
Works Cited 
McKay, Don. Vis-à-Vis: Field Notes 
   on Poetry & Wilderness. Wolfville, 
   NS: Gaspereau, 2001. Print. 
VIVIAN HANSEN is a Calgary poet and 
activist. She has recently released A Bitter 
Mood of Clouds, (Frontenac House), a story 
of Arne Petersen, a Danish hermaphrodite 
who received sex reassignment in 
Denmark in 1953.
 
2
The Goose, Vol. 13, No. 2 [2015], Art. 30
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol13/iss2/30


The Lost Letters by Catherine Greenwood

Wilfrid Laurier University

The GooseVolume 13 | No. 2 Article 302-24-2015The Lost Letters by Catherine GreenwoodVivian M. Hansen Ms.University of CalgaryPart of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Literature in English, North AmericaCommons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, and the Place and Environment CommonsFollow this and additional works at / Suivez-nous ainsi que d’autres travaux et œuvres:https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegooseThis article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Goose by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrantede la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactezscholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended Citation / Citation recommandéeHansen, Vivian M.. "The Lost Letters by Catherine Greenwood." The Goose, vol. 13 , no. 2 , article 30, 2015,https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol13/iss2/30.A Collage of Letters The Lost Letters by CATHERINE GREENWOOD Brick Books, 2013 $20.00 Reviewed by VIVIAN HANSEN This collection revolves around the lost letters and love between Heloise and Abelard, twelfth-century lovers whose passion for each other was unrequited. In “Notes,” Greenwood gives a brief account of the lovers and their unfortunate directions: By most accounts, Abelard seduced the teenaged Heloise, and after the birth of their son and a secret marriage, Heloise’s uncle Fulbert punished Abelard by having him castrated. Abelard continued his academic pursuits, while Heloise reluctantly joined a convent. This is the stuff of great story, and Greenwood approaches her specific poetry by retelling the letters between Abelard and Heloise as they rediscover each other later in life.   However, the more compelling part of this work is Greenwood’s range of diverse poetic style. Thematically, the range of the text encompasses small things that are overlooked and re-examined. The “eeny-meany-est” details venture into snapshots of our contemporary world and enable the reader to look beyond the story of Heloise and Abelard. Greenwood honours one-word poems: “kernel, liquid, snooze, a bat,” words which suddenly hold discursive power within the lines of a poem. They hold imagistic nomenclature that allows us unique engagement with the referential points of our human experience.   Narrational observations encompass rhetorical questions: “How many sets of hands / does it take to open hope, unscrew / the lid tightened on that jar of misguided longings?” Greenwood delivers a set of kennings about a mermaid: “shy sea nun,” the sibilants slipping easily into the sand of the poem. Greenwood’s considerable nod to the masterful Don McKay and his book Vis-à-Vis allows for a reworking of the concept of the "nest,” the vis-à-vis of origins; just as McKay refers to nest-building as a bonding ritual, “an attempt to summon something out of nothing” (102), Greenwood describes it as “broomstraw, cornsilk / culled from the compost box.” The meaning-nests she creates are sometimes offered in fragments: Fragment 52 ] ] - ] and potatoes! [ -  ]   thoughts [ ] Buried under the ground ] Cultural clichés are re- and defamiliarized: “We are weary of pondering / the long and short of it all—buy high, sell low?” Greenwood’s attempt to describe the moment:  Sentimental music makes my nipples itch. Despite / determined twiddling of the dial / I still pull in the same curdled 1Hansen: The Lost LettersPublished by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2015signal, / shaggy as the ecstatic tussle of interplanetary dust / bunnies breeding beneath the bed. There is the exquisite muscle of simile that snapshots the image: “The other leg / is hooked over your knee / like a carefully latched gate.” This strategy of poetic links is an open letter to form and content, a delightful nest and a collage of sequence and consequence.    Moving back to Heloise and Abelard, thudding rain is heard in “Another Day in the Scriptorium:” Downpour. Dreams dissolving  in a denture mug. Snug oblivion  breached by the carillon alarm, a cruel harpoon of light drags me from the shallow refuge sought in my cups each soul-dark night./ Sloshed  How can someone experience too much alliteration, when its arrangements induce such entry into the moments shared between the two lovers? A rhyming sequence and internal rhyme is also well-placed: Here lies a matchless passion igniter/ extinct as a spark without a lighter From lack of love the Lusty One succumbed to spontaneous combustion.  Greenwood demonstrates a flexible but strong poetic ability, which allows the reader to maneuver between the re-telling of Heloise and Abelard and the worlds that are too small for us to see. Greenwood reveals her gift of poetic magnification in The Lost Letters, projecting a renewal and restoration of the senses. Works Cited McKay, Don. Vis-à-Vis: Field Notes    on Poetry & Wilderness. Wolfville,    NS: Gaspereau, 2001. Print. VIVIAN HANSEN is a Calgary poet and activist. She has recently released A Bitter Mood of Clouds, (Frontenac House), a story of Arne Petersen, a Danish hermaphrodite who received sex reassignment in Denmark in 1953. 2The Goose, Vol. 13, No. 2 [2015], Art. 30https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol13/iss2/30

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The Lost Letters by Catherine Greenwood

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