Footsteps of the Past

by Philip Resnick

Overview

Philip Resnick’s Footsteps of the Past constitutes a powerful set of reflections on the modern human condition. The book contains poems dealing with memory, recognition, and the slow passage of time, while others meditate on the deep wounds that chronic illness and disability instill. Some of the poems have a critical political edge, while others probe the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of our modern identities with cool detachment and unrelenting honesty. For inspiration, Resnick draws on Sophocles, Thucydides, Montesquieu, and, from our own day, Thomas Piketty and Charles Taylor. There is also a shout-out to “Je suis Charlie.” Always in these poems one senses a longing for a previous, perhaps mythical, time when the future opened the possibility of a world of ideals. For the reader, this book will resonate in quite unpredictable ways, much like the ferry of the mind whose voyage the author invokes. Bare-knuckled imagery, intellectual inquisitiveness, and a kaleidoscope of themes mark Footsteps of the Past as a strikingly original poetry collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781553804321
Publisher:	Ronsdale Press
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	116
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

PHILIP RESNICK is well-known as a political scientist whose writings have dealt with the Canada-Quebec relationship, the European and North American roots of Canadian identity, and the modern state. Over the past four decades he has also published a number of poetry collections on both classical and contemporary themes, inspired by frequent stays in Greece. Resnick makes his home in Vancouver, B.C.

Table of Contents

II Abroad

Paris on a Sunday Afternoon 35

Musee Zadkine 37

Basilique St. Denis 38

Two Cultures 39

Canal St. Martin 40

In the Staatsbibliothek 41

Head of an Archaic Horse 42

Residencia de Estudiantes 43

Aragon 44

Barri Gotic 45

Cuarentena 46

Pare Guell 47

Santiago de Compostela 48

Musco Chileno de Arte Precolombino 49

Invocation 50

Santorini 51

Farewell to Damouchari 52

III Infirmity

July, 2010 55

Mid-September 56

Early Snow 57

All that Is Left Is the Anger 58

Chronic Illness 59

Hospital Cafeteria 60

Disability 61

Old Couple 62

Leave-taking 63

Once 64

Corner Bench 65

Fado 66

IV Political Currents

Canadian Tory 69

At Kingsmere 70

The Crown in Canada 71

Jack Layton 72

Donbass 73

Thucydides 74

August, 2014 75

Stormy Times 76

In the Provinces 77

The Genealogy of Morals 78

Reprise 79

'68 Dreams 80

Je suis Charlie 81

V Sarastro's Realm

From the Other Shore 85

For Borges 86

The Hall of Uselessness 87

Words 88

Flashback 89

The World We Have Lost 91

September 1 92

The Ferry 93

Heraclitus' River 94

Memento mori 95

Erbarme dich, mein Gott 96

The Shadow Line 97

The Mysteries 98

Cavafian Reflections 99

Publish or Perish 100

Sociologists 101

Montesquieu 102

Charles Taylor 103

Hannah Arendt 104

On Reading Thomas Piketty 105

A Troubled Century 106

A Sickness beyond Death 107

Threnody 108

Sic passit 109

Lightning 110

Sophocles 111

Women of Trachis 112

About the Author 115