Past Imperfect, Present Tense
PAST IMPERFECT, PRESENT TENSE
In Derk Wynand’s eleventh collection of poems, his first in nearly a decade, he continues to explore the effects of geographical displacement on the psyche and language of the emigrant or traveler. Often, the mute animal world lends a physical dimension to more abstract meditations on love and loss. A melancholy, sometimes-tropical horizon note frequently sounds beneath the book’s wry humour and northern ironies.
About the Author:
Born in Germany, Derk Wynand came to Canada as a child in 1952. He has written ten previous collections of poetry, including his latest, Dead Man’s Float, Brick Books, 2002, and a collection of fiction, One Cook, Once Dreaming, Sono Nis Press, 1980, a generous selection of which featured in Ground Works: Avant-Garde for Thee, ed. Christian Bök, 2002. He has published several translations of works by the Austrian writers, H.C. Artmann and Erich Wolfgang Skwara, and the German Poet, Dorothea Grünzweig. From 1969 to 2004, he taught Creative Writing at the University of Victoria, B.C., serving two three-year terms as Chair of the Department, and six years (1992-1998) as editor of The Malahat Review. He lives in Victoria with his wife, Eva.
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