Burritt's Rapids and Beyond

In BURRITT'S RAPIDS AND BEYOND whatever flows remains. From Winnipeg Vancouver Montreal and rural Ontario Louis Contant considers his place in the world. Fireflies whippoor-wills squirrels dragonflies waterfalls and the soulful notes of a sonata drift through these meditations on nature spirituality writing love family friendship and music. Louis' poems inhabit sorrow and suffering yet are rich with praise delighting in the comforts and joys of ritual and routine alongside brevity and ephemera. Whether considering the alpine range of Auden's contributions to literature the solitude of the poet the molded contours of friendship the possibility of life on other planets or the cedar cottage sweetness of home Louis reminds us that what really matters is happening all the time / without us.<br /><br />With humour wit and humbleness Louis confronts his own mortality and celebrates human connection in an age of technology and social unrest. Playful rhymes and uncompromising narratives are accompanied by the poet's feisty resilience and tuneful undercurrents of grace.<br /><br />Published posthumously and compiled and contextualized by the poet's wife Wilma Brown Burritt's Rapids and Beyond showcases and pays tribute to the life of one wise and curious man. At its heart this book asks what it means to truly belong to this world to live in it with pleasure and reverence trying not to step on any wildflowers.