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David the Poet
David West has been writing poetry for over 30 years and has published 9 volumes of poetry. Here is some information on his books and some samples of the poems.
David has a small number of copies of all but the rarest of these books. Collectors may inquire about availability and prices by email.
DAVID'S POETRY BOOKS AND CHAPBOOKS
Black and White the Horses, blewointment press, 1976.
Franklin and McClintock, Intermedia Press, 1977.
Poems and Elegies, Fiddlehead Books, 1978.
Trenchmist, blewointment press, 1983.
Picking Up the Pieces, The Caitlin Press, 1989.
My Buddha, Delaware Press, 1999. Chapbook.
Flying to Fort Chip, Delaware Press, 1999. Chapbook.
1958, Delaware Press, 1999.
Twelve Steps, Delaware Press, 2000. Chapbook.
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The Explorers' Art
The explorers
were artists
in their way
they had an eye
quickly noted
detail
the shades
of arctic colour
they did not
paint
and although
they jotted
prose
in yellow
journals
one could not say
that they wrote
or anything else much
but
that they were here first
with their sharp
quick eyes
by David West
from Franklin and McClintock
copyright 1977
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Sketch by Marjorie Donaldson, from The Fiddlehead, no. 125 (Spring 1980), 35th Anniversary Issue. |
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Black and White the Horses
The herd like dust
settles from the cloud
black and white horses
the horses of the mind
beside the sunned run of a river
they pause to drink and black
and white reflect the cloud's motion
behind their eyes
the veldt races
past proud colts
and cactus-framed they also plod
ridden by a cowboy
who one-handed
rolls the horse's head
into a wreath of smoke
The black horse abandons the sand
which, when it was clear and grained,
stirred beneath hooves that tracked
the wind-blown flats
as black and white the horses
shake the earth and
dim the sky --
by David West
from Black and White the Horses
copyright 1976
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The first book Black and White the Horses was published by blewointmentpress in Vancouver in 1976. The 22 poems were selected by publisher and poet bill bissett. |
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POEMS AND ELEGIES and FRANKLIN AND McCLINTOCK
David's second book, Poems and Elegies: 1972-1977 (not shown), was published while he was a student at the University of New Brunswick in 1978. It was published in Fredericton, New Brunswick, by Fred Cogswell at Fiddlehead Poetry Books. In the aftermath of several deaths of friends and family, the title emerged.
Franklin and McClintock (left) was published by Intermedia Press in Vancouver in 1977. The documentary-meditative squence of poems grew out of David's interest in the Expedition of Sir John Franklin to sail the through Northwest Passage in 1845 and the subsequent loss of his two ships and all hands. The 1859 account of findings of the fate of Franklin's expedition by Captain Leopold M'Clintock fell into David's hands, and the narrative grew.
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Franklin and McClintock was book number three.
It was one of very few Canadian poetry books to Sell Out its complete run.
A second edition was in the works, when the publishers turned into a
strictly commercial press.
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