On the Line: Conversations About Poetry
The Thunderbird Poems by Armand Garnet Ruffo In Episode 4, Kate Sutherland discusses The Thunderbird Poems by Armand Garnet Ruffo with Signa Daum Shanks, Sonja Greckol, and Liz Howard. In the course of the conversation, a few references are made to sources beyond the book, including Ruffo’s prose biography of of Norval Morrisseau, Man Changing into Thunderbird (Douglas & McIntyre), and an interview with Ruffo inJacket2. “Ancestors Performing the Ritual of the Shaking Tent, c. 1958-61” read with permission from Harbour Publishing. All rights reserved. 
The Thunderbird Poems
by Armand Garnet Ruffo Harbour Publishing, 2015 Description from Harbour Publishing Norval Morrisseau’s revered work has been honoured, copied and recognized throughout the art world and beyond. Less widely known but equally captivating is the artist’s personal life story, which poet and biographer Armand Garnet Ruffo related in his powerful narrative biography, Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird (Douglas & McIntyre, 2014). Ruffo immersed himself in the life and work of the artist, gaining insight into the struggles and sources of inspiration underlying Morrisseau’s greatest works through research and interviews with the artist himself—a connection further strengthened by their shared Ojibway heritage. His lengthy study of Morrisseau inspired Ruffo to write poems reflecting on both the works of art and the emotional context in which Morrisseau painted them. The Thunderbird Poems complements the highly evocative and poetic biography, delving into Morrisseau’s creative life through compressed, imagistic language, while untangling the complex and powerful threads of meaning, tradition and emotional power that resonate throughout Morrisseau’s strong lines and vibrant colours. Significant themes in Morrisseau’s work are mirrored in The Thunderbird Poems: Ojibway legends, Morrisseau’s conflicted religious beliefs, political tensions between white and aboriginal Canadians. Significant moments in Morrisseau’s life are also traced along with the development of his artistic career. Deeply immersed in Morrisseau’s life story, and possessing thorough knowledge of the Ojibway storytelling traditions which grounded so much of the artist’s beliefs and creativity, Ruffo provides fresh poetic interpretations of the most renowned and striking works of one of Canada’s most celebrated painters. Episode 4 Guests
Signa Daum Shanks is a prairie Metis from Saskatchewan. She grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, now lives in Barrie, Ontario, and is on faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School. She has published poetry in the Literary Review of Canada, Canadian Literature, Queen's Quarterly and Canadian Woman Studies.
Sonja Greckol resides in Toronto and is grateful for subways and bike lanes wherever. She has published two books of poetry, Skein of Days (Pedlar Press, 2014) and Gravity Matters (Inanna Press, 2009). She has taught college and university, studied order and disorder in jokes, and done human rights and gender-based research and organizational diversity consulting. Her current poetry probes Al Andalus and the unravelling of La Convivencia. Liz Howard, like Armand Garnet Ruffo, grew up in Chapleau, Ontario, a small isolated, logging community tucked just inside the Arctic watershed. Her first book, Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent, won the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize and was also a finalist for the 2015 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. She now lives in Toronto where she works as a neurocognitive aging research assistant.
Kate Sutherland, On the Line, Host and Producer
Kate Sutherland is the author of two books of short fiction, and one collection of poems: Summer Reading (winner of a Saskatchewan Book Award for Best First Book), All In Together Girls, and How to Draw a Rhinoceros. Her work has also appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies including Best Canadian Poetry 2016. She lives in Toronto. |
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