Poem: not man's time from The Grey Islands by John Steffler

not man's time here.
sun's time.
rock's time.
I begin to feel it.

days blink by - light
and cold flowing over - tide
breathing smoothly, evenly, I

slip between half-seconds, flash
light-beam pinball-style, do
ten thousand vanishing things
in a breath.



This poem is from The Grey Islands by John Steffler. Originally published in print form by McClelland and Stewart (1985); Brick Books (2000). The unabridged audiobook edition of The Grey Islands is narrated (in order of appearance) by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins with island soundscapes recorded off the coast of Newfoundland.

You can purchase downloads of Rattling Books audiobooks online or physical CDs from Fred's Records in St. John's, Newfoundland (or by mail order).

SoundCloud Listening Clip of Carm's dementia from The Grey Islands by John Steffler

The following listening clip from The Grey Islands by John Steffler is in the voice of Carm, narrated by Frank Holden.

Carm is an old man who lived on the Grey Islands into his presumed dementia and eventual removal to an institution. His stories haunt Steffler's main character, a mainlander seeking solitude.

The Grey Islands by John Steffler is published in print by Brick Books. The unabridged audio edition from Rattling Books, narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, Janis Spence and Darryl Hopkins will be released in March, 2007.

Listening Clip for today's Canadian audiobook snack of the day: The Grey Islands

We invite you to listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' Canadian audiobook snack of the day, The Grey Islands by John Steffler:

Frank Holden performs a piece from The Grey Islands entitled Two More Women.

You can find other listening clip recordings from Rattling Books on SoundCloud.  Rattling Books publishes Canadian audiobooks.  Rattling Books is based in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Canadian audiobook snack for the day: The Grey Islands by John Steffler

The Grey Islands by John Steffler

Today's suggested Canadian audiobook snack for the day from Rattling Books will keep you going for about 2 1/2 hours.  The Grey Islands by John Steffler is narrated by a cast of characters against a backdrop of island soundscape recordings. 

The author John Steffler known to many as Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada from 2006 to 2008 is joined in this audiobook recording by (in order of appearance) Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins.  

Richard Cumyn And John Steffler Read At University of New Brunswick, February 7

Richard Cumyn and John Steffler will be reading at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, on Monday, February 7, as part of the Lorenzo Reading Series. For details, click on the UNB photo.

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Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' audio edition of Richard Cumyn's short story "My Future in Insurance," narrated by Charlie Tomlinson. This story is available as an MP3 download, and it is also featured on EarLit Shorts 3 , an audio book collection of short fiction.

Follow this link to hear an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of John Steffler's poetry collection The Grey Islands, narrated by the author, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins.

Canadian Poet John Steffler Reads The Plumber Poem

Canadian poet and novelist John Steffler, a native of Ontario, lived in Newfoundland for thirty years. The Grey Islands, Steffler’s collection of poetry written after a sojourn on an uninhabited island off the coast of Newfoundland, has been hailed as a masterpiece of Canadian wilderness writing.

Listen to an excerpt from Rattling Books' unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands, read by the author, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins. The Grey Islands is available from Rattling Books as an MP3 download and an audio CD.

Don McKay Sends Stephen Harper John Steffler's The Grey Islands

Griffin Prize-winning poet Don McKay has sent Prime Minister Stephen Harper a copy of John Steffler's poetry collection The Grey Islands as part of Yann Martel's What is Stephen Harper Reading blog. Read McKay's accompanying letter here.

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John Steffler's The Grey Islands and Don McKay's Songs for the Songs of Birds (a selection of McKay's poems on birds, birding and flight) are available as audio CDs or digital download from Rattling Books.

John Steffler Makes Eyewear's List

Eyewear, the literary blog of Canadian poet Todd Swift, has selected John Steffler as one of sixty poets who "have made the largest impact on the world of English-language poetry these past five years." Read the whole list here.

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John Steffler's poetry collection The Grey Islands is available as an audiobook from rattlingbooks.com.

John Steffler to read at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Tuesday April 8

John Steffler, Canada's Third Parliamentary Poet Laureate, will read from his poems and speak about the role of Poet Laureate on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at John Abbott College (in the agora) in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Sponsored by the John Abbott Faculty Association. Free. Call 514-457-6610, Local 5171.

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John Steffler's classic The Grey Islands, the unabridged audio edition, is available from Rattling Books, Canada's SMALL but fine publisher of unabridged audio books.

Steffler to speak tonight in Corner Brook

The Western Star

CORNER BROOK — The Corner Brook campus of Memorial University will welcome back Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate to campus tonight.John Steffler, who retired from Grenfell’s English faculty in 2006, will deliver a reading titled “The Three-walled House: a reading of poems with some thoughts on language and literature.”

The reading will take place 7:30 p.m., in FC2014. A reception will follow.

Steffler is the author of five books of poetry including “The Grey Islands,” “That Night We were Ravenous,” and “Helix: New and Selected Poems.” His novel, The Afterlife of George Cartwright, won the Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the Commonwealth First Novel Award.

Read the Rest of this Western Star article.

John Steffler Speaks Out Against Bill C-10

John Steffler, Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate, has weighed in on the controversial issue of Bill C-10. See his letter to Cross Country Checkup below.

from CBC's Cross Country Checkup website

Everyone in the country who values freedom of political and artistic expression should speak out against Bill C-10 which is now in the hands of the Senate. In giving the Heritage Minister the power to deny tax credits to films and TV shows he/she finds offensive, this bill introduces a covert form of censorship and undermines the principle of arm's-length funding for the arts. Pornography is already ineligible for tax credits. What is the bill designed to weed out? As a society we tend to be fearful of authority, self-concealing and politically passive. We need to encourage people to exercise their imaginations in public ways, to question conventional thinking, to be innovative, adventurous and outspoken. We do not need to increase our government's power to censor and silence us.

John Steffler
Parliamentary Poet Laureate

John Steffler's Grey Islands: just where are they?

The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000.

Grey Islands

Grey Islands, group of 2 islands off NE N.F., Canada, in the Atlantic. Largest isl. is Bell Isl. or Grey Isl. South (34 sq mi/88 sq km), 50 mi/80 km N of Cape St. John; 10 mi/16 km long, 7 mi/11 km wide; 50°44'N 55°35°W. Site of lighthouse (SW) and radio station. N of Bell Isl., 7 mi/11 km, is Groais Isl. or Grey Isl. North (16 sq mi/41 sq km); 7 mi/11 km long, 4 mi/6 km wide. Both isls. are hilly, rising to over 500 ft/152 m. Village of Grey Islands Harbour at Rocky Bay, S end of Bell Isl.

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

Resettlement statistic for Groais Island, 1963

Annual Report with List of Places Vacated, 1963

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE

(Newfoundland and Labrador)

Reference has been made in previous years to the Centralization Programme which is administered by the Social Assistance Division. Financial assistance may be granted to a maximum of $600.00 per family in order to assist families to move from isolated settlements to a more centralized area where public services, schools, medical care, etc., are more readily available.No assistance may be granted to an individual unless the head of the household of every family living in an isolated community signs a petition agreeing to move and requests financial assistance from this Department. The regulations state that assistance may be provided any family who moved from an isolated settlement not more than two years before the signing of the petition. ...The breakdown of places either vacated or in the process of being vacated is listed below:

(N.B. There follows a surprizingly long list of communities. To see the full list click here. Among the list is the following entry for The Grey Islands).

Places Vacated : Groais Island

No. of Families : 8

That was in the '60s.

In the '80s when there was no longer any livyers remaining, writer John Steffler wrote The Grey Islands. It is now considered a classic of Canadian poetry. John Steffler currently holds the post of Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate.


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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

John Steffler Gives Pratt Lecture and Poetry Reading

Memorial University's Pratt Lecture will be delivered by Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler on Saturday, March 15, at 8 p.m. in the Inco Innovation Centre, room IIC-2001.

The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Beatrice Watts Board Room, also in the Inco building.

Mr. Steffler will also read from his poetry on Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Petro-Canada Hall.

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

Canadian Poet Laureate John Steffler to Deliver Memorial University's Pratt Lecture

from http://today.mun.ca/
By Janet Harron

Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate, John Steffler, will deliver Memorial University’s 2008 Pratt Lecture on Saturday, March 15.

Mr. Steffler, who recently retired from teaching English and Creative Writing at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, will explore the special value of poetry in contemporary society during this public lecture, titled The Uses of Poetry.

Ironically, it is the commercial uselessness of poetry, Mr. Steffler argues, that is the foundation of its value to human kind. Since poets are in no danger of making money for themselves or others, they can be as honest and natural as they please.

“Poetry really is able to express the state of our culture’s soul, our fears, desires, vanities, neuroses, nobilities, shames, obsessions and wisdoms: the whole insides,” said Mr. Steffler.

He went on to say, “Poetry brings out people’s private experience, puts people in touch with their inner selves, and refreshes their awareness of the outside world.”

Poetry, John Steffler maintains, is the underpinning of all literature as it makes the most exact and intense use of language. He calls it “language off the leash” as compared to the practical, dull applications of language in the everyday, modern world. It also acts as an energy source that can rejuvenate individuals and keep them in touch with the life of the imagination.

Originally from Ontario, John Steffler has lived in Corner Brook since 1974, when he began teaching at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College...

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

Vancouver Sun Article on John Steffler

How a Poet Laureate Leaves His Mark

Rebecca Wigod, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, February 02, 2008

Halfway into his two-year term as Parliamentary poet laureate, John Steffler is having a hard time composing poems, since making public appearances and leaving some kind of legacy are major parts of the job.

On the phone from the countryside near Perth, Ont., the writer known mainly for his evocations of the landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador said: "Since the new year, I've been kind of hiding out here, trying to get a new collection of poems together."

Steffler, 60, grew up on a farm in Markham County, north of Toronto. He spent three decades in Cornerbrook, Nfld., before moving to Montreal...

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, January 7-13

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, Melt, is by Patricia Young.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.
There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.
Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audiobook edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, January 7-13

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, Melt, is by Patricia Young.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

John Steffler's Poem of the Week, November 26-December 2

Follow this link to Parliamentary Poet Laureate John Steffler's Poem of the Week website. This week's poem, War Baby, is by John Donlan.

from John Steffler's word of introduction:

"The Poem of the Week website features a new poem by a Canadian poet each week. The initiative, which was started in 2003 by Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and continued by his successor, Pauline Michel, has proven very popular as a way of showing readers everywhere a sample of the work of Canada’s contemporary poets. The support of the Library of Parliament makes it possible for me to keep the project alive.

There are many fine poets writing in Canada today. My aims are the same as those of George Bowering and Pauline Michel: to try to offer an inclusive representation of contemporary Canadian poetry in both English and French from all the country’s regions.

Here you will encounter the skill, imagination, and wide variety in Canadian poetry and gain a special insight into life in this country..."

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The unabridged audio edition of The Grey Islands by John Steffler (narrated by John Steffler, Frank Holden, Janis Spence, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and Darryl Hopkins) is available from rattlingbooks.com

John Steffler reading in Ancaster, Ontario November 29

Thursday, November 29 - ANCASTER, ONTARIO - afternoon reading - John Steffler is Canada’s poet laureate and the author of The Grey Islands. 777 Garner Road East. For more information, contact Deborah C. Bowen at dcbowen@redeemer.ca