Professor’s new poetry collection explores violence, patriotism, intimacy

Devin P.L. Edwards
Senior Staff Writer

Reviewing poetry can be a touchy subject, but not for Andy Weaver. I first encountered him as a poetry professor at York, and being familiar with his teaching, I was more than willing to read his recent collection Gangson. It features a pleasing variety of poems, but the content is anything but pleasing.
Aptly timed with the recent death of Osama bin Laden, Gangson‘s title poem questions the violent tendencies of the human condition, and centring on New York City, conjures images of the crime and violence that is associated with that city. While the tone of “Gangson” seems biting, Weaver describes it “as an examination of violence, rather than a pointed criticism of violence […] Obviously, I’m not in favour of violence – but I’m fascinated by it.”
The second feature poem “Weavings” is a lyric and cultural poem using distinctly Canadian symbolism paired with cross-cultural references. It seems to naturalizes the cultural history of the world, but elements of the poem come with a harsher, more cynical tone that criticizes aspects of Western mentality, like nationalism and consumer culture. Containing a shopping list that mentions Queen Anne’s lace, a Canadian flower, a cat from the SPCA and Canadian Tire alongside an equal number of American and international products and organizations, “Weavings” exclaims, “much depends upon our attention to retail.”
The final poem “you and i” affectionately relates the intimate bond between lovers. Both romantic and awkwardly adorable, this poem hosts a full range of allusions, homages, references, and metaphors, and proves that Weaver can not only craft contemporary poetry, but bring timeless themes to light as well.
“I wrote the poem to my wife, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it a romantic poem. I’d be happy thinking about [“you and i”] as about love or loving relationships [or] partnerships,” says Weaver. “Originally, the poem was laid out as one solid block of text, but it didn’t work as well as it could have. Breaking it up into smaller pieces slows down the reading and, I think, keeps the reader from being pushed through the poem too quickly.”
Weaver’s poetry is both acoustically satisfying and intellectually stimulating – entertaining on the first read, yet so deeply complicated that it demands to be revisited. After close analysis, the definitions of words, once elementary, began to fade and dim. Keep a dictionary on hand as Weaver’s wordplay sometimes requires awareness of every meaning of every word.