Edmonton Journal: The Alphabet Game a 'wondrous gift'

The late bpNichol, who died at the age of 44 in 1988, titled the seventh book of his lifelong poem, The Martyrology, Gifts. He believed that art was a gift, as were all examples of it, and as was the response to them. For the generations of readers who have come along since he died, The Alphabet Game should prove to be a monumental gift indeed, a wide-ranging introduction to the works of one of Canada's most gifted, and giving, radical imaginative writers. Not only did he create the 10 volumes of The Martyrology, he was also a leading concrete poet, sound poet, theorist, children's writer, editor, television writer and general all-round creator. While known as an adventurous avant-gardist to that small audience that pays attention to the most innovative writing, he also reached a huge popular audience via his scripts for Fraggle Rock and other programs. As most of his poetry and prose was published in small editions by the little presses he loved and supported, and much is out of print, The Alphabet Game provides a partial overview of his amazingly prolix poetic genius.

Editors Darren Wershler-Henry and Lori Emerson point out that what's presented in their book is "by necessity only a fraction of what he wrote in his lifetime; there have been, and we hope there will be, other collections of his work." This is a beginning, however, that amply acknowledges just how widely Nichol cast his poetic net. Beginning with a lovely selection of Nichol's concrete and visual poetry, The Alphabet Game then offers a selection from various books of The Martyrology, an impossible task, as that long poem really demands to be read in at least whole books. Nevertheless, although every reader who knows that vast work will find some fault with their selections, they do, I think, provide entrances for new readers, whom they invite to go look at the whole (which is available online). Shorter poems and sequences, prose and prose poetry, and excerpts from the books, Love, Zygal and Art Facts fill out this cornucopia collection.

Nichol had the gift of being able to create extremely far-out experiments while never losing touch with his common humanity. All his various works are suffused by love, generosity of feeling

and a great empathy. Unlike so much "experimental" writing, his touched the heart as well as the mind.

In his introduction to an earlier collection, George Bowering described Nichol as "a preternaturally generous human being" who gave of himself and his talent to a host of other writers. "Commentators often bring up Lewis Hyde's idea of the gift economy when they are discussing Nichol's writing and teaching and editing," Bowering wrote. And what Wershler-Henry and Emerson have done in editing The Alphabet Game is to offer his wonderful gift to a new audience.

There are poems so tender they hurt; there are pieces that will twist your mind out of shape; there are corny jokes and moments of high good humour; there is always the awareness that this writer understood the wellsprings of his art, that his subtle sense of language and rhythm is incredibly precise. Reading The Alphabet Game is one of the best ways to recover from too much of the banal and prosy poetry that still gets most of the space on current bookshelves. If you are a writer, this book will remind you of how difficult and glorious the real thing is.

As the editors remind us, Nichol tended to write in series or sequences, so no reader can fully catch the power of the many works they have excerpted. Nevertheless, The Alphabet Game provides a sweeping reminder to those who know his work and introduction to those who don't of just what a wild and inventive artist Nichol was. It's a beautiful book and it is, once more, a wondrous gift.

Douglas Barbour is a local poet and freelance reviewer.