ISBN: 9780888784537

Memorials and the yearning to re-create the past permeate Valley Sutra, B.C. 2000 Book Award-winning poet Kuldip Gill's new collection of verse. The voices of East Indian communities… More...

Memorials and the yearning to re-create the past permeate Valley Sutra, B.C. 2000 Book Award-winning poet Kuldip Gill's new collection of verse. The voices of East Indian communities and families speak up, reminding us that history is not just what is recorded in documents and ledgers, but is a mixture of smells, tastes, and textures: the steam of hot rotis rising from metal lunchboxes at a midday break at a mill, the lush flesh of a mango offered by a gentle grandfather, the slivered bark of a log waiting to be processed, and the soft touch of sari silk and green grass. In the last section of the book, quiet appreciation of British Columbia's Fraser Valley is invoked by the ghost of Bill Miner, Canada's first train robber, who speaks from beyond the grave to refashion his myth, reworking memories and documents to reveal history from his point of view while offering an alternative ending for himself other than a lonely death in jail. Kuldip Gill, Books, Fiction and Literature, Poetry, Valley Sutra Books>Fiction and Literature>Poetry <