The Alchemy of Happiness
Also by Marilyn Bowering
Poetry
The Liberation of Newfoundland (1973)
One Who Became Lost (1976)
The Killing Room (1977)
Sleeping with Lambs (1980)
Giving Back Diamonds (1982)
The Sunday Before Winter: New and Selected Poetry (1984)
Anyone Can See I Love You (1987)
Grandfather Was a Soldier (1987)
Calling All the World: Laika and Folchakov 1957 (1989)
Love as Lt Is (1993)
Autobiography (1996)
Human Bodies: New and Selected Poems 1987–1999 (1999)
Fiction
The Visitors Have All Returned (1979)
To All Appearances a Lady (1989)
Visible Worlds (1997)
The
Alchemy
of
Happiness
poems by
Marilyn Bowering
Copyright © 2003 by Marilyn Bowering
First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), Toronto, Ontario.
This book is published by Beach Holme Publishing, 226–2040 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2G2. www.beachholme.bc.ca. This is a Porcepic Book.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and of the British Columbia Arts Council. The publisher also acknowledges the financial assistance received from the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its publishing activities.
Editor: Michael Carroll
Design and Production: Jen Hamilton
Cover art: Almudena de la Peña by Mercedes Carbonell. Oil on infografía. Copyright © 2002. Used with permission. Author Photograph: Tony Bounsall Photo-Design
Printed and bound in Canada by Marc Veilleux Imprimeur
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bowering, Marilyn, 1949-
The alchemy of happiness/Marilyn Bowering.
Poems.
“A porcépic book.”
ISBN 0-88878-435-X
I. Title.
PS8553.09A42 2003 C811’.54 C2002-911090-4
PR9199.3.B635A42 2003
For Michael and Xanand for my brother, David
Contents
I The Father and Mother Poems, The Daughter Poems
Concerning Self-Examination and the Recollection of God
The Stars
Night Words
The Cat Project
III The Pink City
The Pink City
IV Glen Lochay Diary
Glen Lochay Diary
V Calendar
January I
January II
February I
February II
February Note
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October I
October II
November I
November II
December
Midnight
Acknowledgements
The faculties rejoice without knowing how
they rejoice, the soul is enkindled in love
without understanding how it loves.
