nichepoetryandprose

I think that I will never be as proud of a magazine publication as I am of my two poems and two drawings in a hockey magazine!

Between the Lines – A Journal of Hockey Literature is a publication of the University of Saskatchewan, now in its third volume. The editors are Dwayne Brenna and Sara-Jane Gloutnez.

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Between the Lines: A Journal of Hockey Literature

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So, why am I so proud of this accomplishment? Is it because I am a lover of hockey? Just the opposite. I never pay it any attention! I have been known to ask if the Blue Jays won the Stanley Cup last year! However, one of my brothers is a devoted hockey fan.  His love for the sport when he was young has always impressed me … I think people need should be passionate about their interests!

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Hockey is a great theme for poetry. The game itself is naturally rhythmic (the movement of the skater, the varying pace of the game). The names of players and announcers, the terms for various plays, the enthusiasm of the fans … interesting words to work with! And metaphors abound.

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I like to learn new things, to discover new themes for my writing and art. I also consider the game of hockey to be quintessentially Canadian. I can’t name a single hockey player after Mickey Mantle, but I love having my poems and art in a hockey magazine.

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Between the Lines is a well-presented publication that includes stories about hockey and hockey players in both poetry and prose. The writing inside captures the scratch of blades on ice, the excitement of the announcer’s voice,  the clouds of breath above the outside hockey rink, and the scurry of kids to move the net from the way of subdivision traffic.

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loving hockey

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at eight, my brother

was tall for his age

narrow-boned, jointed

as a skater bug

on the big farm pond

but compact, center

of gravity low

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he learned to skate

on a strip of ice

by the driveway

practiced on the pond

a family myth

that he was pale

and our dad saw no value

in rising early

for ice time

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my brother’s rink

a screen, rabbit-eared

Hockey Night in Canada

a pad of blue-lined

paper, hockey stick

a yellow pencil, skate

marks neat columns

of statistics, goals

and assists, Howe hat tricks

Mahovlich, Rocket

Richard, numbers

from the breathless

crescendo, Foster Hewitt –

‘He shoots, he scores.’

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today my brother

is a fit man

an accountant, skates

on the boardroom table

on the frozen pond

a water strider

on the meniscus

attends games

at the coliseum

can still do a pivot

from standing

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poem published as ‘loving hockey’ in Between the Lines, Volume 3, 2015/2016

drawing published in Between the Lines, Volume 1, 2014

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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims