Spanning Gwendolyn MacEwen's career from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, this is a comprehensive collection of work by one of the greatest women writers of the 20th century. It traces the trajectory of her verse and the development of her fiction and drama, and includes letters, paintings, and photographs from the oeuvre of this beloved Canadian poet.

Rosemary Sullivan is an award-winning writer and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Betrayal of Anne Frank. Shadow Maker, her biography of Gwendolyn MacEwen, won the Governor General's Award, the UBC President's Medal for Canadian Biography, and the Toronto Book Award. Meaghan Strimas is the author of three collections of poetry: Junkman’s Daughter, A Good Time Had by All, and Yes or Nope, which received the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. She teaches and co-ordinates the Bachelor of Creative & Professional Writing degree program at Humber College. She also serves as interviews editor at the Humber Literary Review, a magazine she co-founded. Gwendolyn MacEwen was a Canadian poet and novelist, and a sophisticated, wide-ranging, and thoughtful writer. She published more than 20 books in her life, each carrying a sense of magic and mystery from her own interests in the Gnostics, Ancient Egypt, magic itself, and from her wonderment at life and death. Her writing is unique, and to this day she is still regarded by most as one of the best Canadian poets.

Contents xv ~ Introduction by Rosemary Sullivan The Drunken Clock * The Rising Fire 3 ~ Certain Flowers 4 ~ The Drunken Clock 5 ~ The Breakfast 7 ~ The Mountain: A Study in Relative Realities 9 ~ Universe And 10 ~ Universe And: The Electric Garden 11 ~ The Death and Agony of the Butterfly 12 ~ The Magician: Three Themes 14 ~ The Dimensions of a Tiger 15 ~ Morning Laughter 18 ~ For Alick MacEwan: d. 1960 19 ~ The Catalogues of Memory 23 ~ The Choice 25 ~ The Pied Piper Julian the Magician * Terror and Erebus 29 ~ from the Introduction to Julian the Magician 31 ~ One / The Baptism 38 ~ Terror and Erebus – A verse play for radio A Breakfast for Barbarians 62 ~ A poetic introduction to the original collection 63 ~ A Breakfast for Barbarians 65 ~ It Rains, You See 66 ~ Strange Breakfasts 68 ~ You Cannot Do This 69 ~ The Children Are Laughing 70 ~ The Metallic Anatomy 71 ~ The Year of the Iron Mouse 73 ~ Poem Improvised Around a First Line 74 ~ The Self Assumes 75 ~ Between You and Me 76 ~ The Left Hand and Hiroshima 77 ~ Poem 78 ~ Subliminal 80 ~ The Peanut Butter Sandwich 81 ~ The Last Breakfast 82 ~ The Magician 84 ~ Manzini: Escape Artist 85 ~ Appendectomy The Shadow-Maker * The Armies of the Moon 89 ~ The Red Bird You Wait For 90 ~ You Held Out the Light 91 ~ Poem 92 ~ The Discovery 93 ~ The Portage 95 ~ Letter to a Future Generation 97 ~ Dark Pines Under Water 98 ~ The Shadow-Maker 99 ~ The Return 100 ~ The Hunt 102 ~ Hypnos 103 ~ Arcanum One: The Prince 104 ~ Arcanum Two: The Conspirator 105 ~ Arcanum Three: The Death of the Prince 106 ~ Arcanum Four: The Enbalming 107 ~ Arcanum Five: The Prayer 108 ~ Arcanum Six: The Centuries 109 ~ Arcanum Seven: The Return 110 ~ Arcanum Eight: The Story 111 ~ Arcanum Nine: The Rings King of Egypt, King of Dreams * Noman * The Fire Eaters * Mermaids and Ikons: A Greek Summer 115 ~ The Papyrus of Meritaton 138 ~ House of the Whale 151 ~ The Carnival 154 ~ Fragments from a Childhood 157 ~ Mystas Trojan Women 173 ~ Helen T.E. Lawrence Poems 207 ~ Water 208 ~ Our Child Which Art in Heaven 209 ~ Animal Spirits 210 ~ Tall Tales 211 ~ There Is No Place to Hide 212 ~ Notes from the Dead Land Noman’ s Land 217 ~ The Loneliest Country in the World Afterworlds 235 ~ The Grand Dance 236 ~ The White Horse 237 ~ Late Song 238 ~ The Death of the Loch Ness Monster 240 ~ The Garden of the Thieves 241 ~ The Wah Mai Café 243 ~ Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear 244 ~ But 245 ~ Letters to Josef in Jerusalem 257 ~ Manitou Poem 258 ~ Grey Owl’ s Poem 259 ~ The Name of the Night 260 ~ Seeing Eye Dogs 262 ~ Fireworks 263 ~ In the Garden of the Chelsea Arts Club 265 ~ Languages (2) 266 ~ Sunday Morning Sermon 267 ~ Barker Fairly and the Blizzard 268 ~ Past and Future Ghosts 269 ~ The Transparent Womb 271 ~ The Man with Three Violins 272 ~ You Know Me 273 ~ Absences 274 ~ The Timing 275 ~ A Stillness of Waiting 276 ~ Daynights 277 ~ November 278 ~ The Lion 279 ~ Marino Marini’ s Horses and Riders 280 ~ A Coin for the Ferryman 281 ~ The Tao of Physics The Birds 285 ~ The Birds “ Scrapbook” 318 ~ A Selection of Photographs, Archival Reproductions, and Memorabilia 325 ~ Related Reading, Questions for Essays and Discussion, Related URLs