"Herein E. Russell Smith domesticates audaciously the queries and quandaries 
of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, updating and relocating its metaphysical 
and theological concerns for our era and locales....Smith reveals resonances 
between Scripture and the world, and expresses rapture in The Word, words, 
bird-watching, and other pastimes. Thus , a Good Friday visit to Peggy's Cove, NS, 
site of the 1998 Swissair 111 crash, occasions this witness: "The whole Atlantic 
heaves and breaks / against this treeless Golgotha,' rooted in that relentless sea./ 
Centuries of ice and baptism / gloss old faults to minor hazards / 
crisscrossed like cracked porcelain." Smith's verse is quiet-toned, 
introspective, and confident in Art — even when Doubt is admitted. 
Thus, it is always resolutely  Faithful, O Believer!"
George Elliott Clarke, 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2016-2017)

"Here's a book of poetry in the intellectually vigorous spirit of John Donne. 
E. Russell Smith's cerebral and paradoxical musings fire shots across the bow 
of unexamined and evanescent piety."  Rev. Peter Lougheed

"Faith and doubt, myth, mystery and truth are the subjects explored 
in these rich, elegant poems, in which Peggy's Cove can be compared 
to Golgotha and ruby-throated hummingbirds are flames. 
These are poems about the natural world, about community 
and compassion as much as religion." Mark Frutkin



Petroglyph Beach

Poetry by 

E. Russell Smith

ISBN 978-1-105-70990-6; 103 pages; $14.00 trade paperback. © 2012.
 	
  Short-listed for the 2013 Archibald Lampman Award for 
best book of poetry by a National-Capital area author. 
Judges: Priscila Uppal, Andris Taskans and Robin Richardson.
"Succinct metre creates an unobtrusive score to these quiet pastorals.  
Careful and attentive, these poems breathe life and individual, human perspective 
into the natural world where "The tundra needs a time away from me. / 
Her life has changed, a strange hand / rests on her perfect breast. Be patient / 
with her need for vigilant tranquility." 
Subtle and astute, this is an  unusually strong collection.  
	
This is a joy of a collection -- lyrical, reflective, perceptive and so very readable. 
Throughout there is an overarching sense of place, as if the author is at one with its spirit, 
the essence of it, as if the places themselves has singled him out so that 
"I am their part and partner ... I sing/of signs of weather and the times."
    These times are not only the present, however. 
This is a poet who bonds with the earth, with its rocks, its peoples, its histories and myths. 
A crumbling pier is not a ruin to be overlooked -- it is part 
"of a vanished bridge where early settlers crossed the creek". 
An ancient stone shaped like a bird has "the sun/secreted under its wing."
    The calm, quiet voice almost seems afraid that it may intrude upon or disturb 
the natural balance of the subject yet produces wonderful images and a power 
that seems to come from the landscape/timescape itself. This is truly a gift, 
beautifully, partially articulated in "I and Thou Martin Buber" -- 
"My moment punctuates/the endless timescape./I am not defined... (but) catch /
a transient glimpse beyond/ a brief reflection in the void./ But snow will come again,/
white, cold and carried/on the wind that even now/
sighs through hemlocks/rising in the darkness."
     This is a book full of issues and questions -- often understated and implicit  
but always there like an undercurrent in one of the rivers the poet journeys on. 
Read the poignant and disturbing Eden Cycle of poems and you’ll see.
    These are beautiful and important poems that deserve to be shared. The poet says it himself:
        "a night bird that sings briefly
         and moves on
         must be followed."
                      Mandy Pannett. Mike Noakes. (Poetry Editors -- The Right Eyed Deer)
I have always enjoyed Russell's work. This collection certainly does not disappoint.
                      John Unrau, Ontario.
You may be delighted to know that Petroglyph Beach has achieved high honor in our house... 
it's now sitting on the window sill next to the warmest thunder throne by the window overlooking the woodpile.  
It's even higher in status than its neighbor of many months precession:  
M. C. Poor's "History of the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad", illustrated.
                      Michael Leach, Delaware, USA.

Available from  Lulu Books



Spring Garland

Poetry by 

E. Russell Smith

and wood engravings by

Gerard Brender à Brandis
 		
ISBN 1 8944543 28 9; 61 pages; $15.00 trade paperback. © 2005.
Spring Garland came into existence as the result of the serendipitous conjunction 
of two artistic trajectories, the graphic afflatus of wood engraver Gerard Brender a Brandis and 
the lyrical fancy of poet E. Russell Smith. Both take pleasure and inspiration in nature, in this case 
in the world of spring flowers. Strangers to each other before the collaboration began, 
they quickly discovered a felicity of intention. The result is a collection of engravings, 
notes and poetry that unfolds in the sequence of the spring flowerings it describes. 
Spring Garland will bring you springtime throughout the year.

the author: 

E. Russell Smith, 1695 Playfair Dr., Apt. 1535, Ottawa ON (Canada) K1H 8J6. Tel. (613)731-6818, 
or e-mail russsmith@sympatico.ca. 

MAIL ORDERS: $15.00 + $3.00 HANDLING ($5 USA).


The Raft of the Skedaddlers

Fictionalized history by

E. Russell Smith
 		
ISBN 1 894494-85-7; 163 pages; $18.95 trade paperback. November 2004.
	Before he settled in Gloucester Township on land that is now part of Ottawa, Braddish Billings 
traded in timber along the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers. In 1810 he and a crew of other ex-patriot 
American "skedaddlers" took a raft of white oak barrel staves from the Rideau Front to Quebec City,
 a venture which proved to be disastrous. Included in his crew was his nephew, Elkanah Stowell,
 the narrator of this tale fifty years later.
	A leader of an anti-American faction in Upper Canada was Scottish-born Deacon 
(later to be Archbishop) John Strachan of Cornwall, a founder of the infamous Family Compact.
 He made it his business to persecute squatters (like Billings) on the Clergy Reserves.
	Also in the political mix were agents of the American president James Madison, 
some of them Methodist circuit riders, who sought to identify deserters and to determine 
the likelihood of local support for the imminent American invasion.
	These elements add a sinister context to a true chronicle of adventure and romance
 on the Canadian frontier.
Published by Baico Publishing, 71 des Camelias, Gatineau QC, Canada J9J 2G1.


For more information or author interviews, please contact the author: 

E. Russell Smith, 1695 Playfair Dr., Apt. 1535, Ottawa ON (Canada) K1H 8J6. Tel. (613)731-6818, 
or e-mail russsmith@sympatico.ca. MAIL ORDERS: above address: $18.95 + $3.00 HANDLING ($5 USA).


Snowdrops and Other Flowers

six poems by E. Russell Smith

six wood engravings by Gerard Brender a Brandis
 		
8 pages; limited edition chapbook, numbered and signed. March 2002.
 This signature was produced for 115 copies of the Wayzgoose Anthology of 2002, 
with an additional 185 copies presented as chapbooks, for a total edition of 300 copies,
 printed from the original endgrain blocks and handset "Libra" type with an Albion press 
onto "Stonehenge" paper.

$135 inc. shipping. Contact russsmith@sympatico.ca.


Why We Stand Facing South

poems by

E. Russell Smith
 		
ISBN 0-920259-64-2; 91 pages; $14.95 trade paperback. August 1998.
Listed in the top ten poetry books of the year by 
Literary Network News

"This newest book by E. Russell Smith features poems that evoke Canada's seasonal, 
geographic, social and political dimensions in a poignant and carefully crafted style, and
trace some of our trans-Atlantic roots in poetic journeys of discovery and recognition." (Henry Beissel)

Published by Moonstone Press, 167 Delaware St., London ON Canada N5Z 2N6

Now available in Ottawa from Chapters (Byward, Pinecrest and South Keys). 
Also in Halifax at THE BOOK ROOM, 1546 Barrington. Halifax NS. For more information 
or author interviews, please contact the author: 

E. Russell Smith, 1695 Playfair Dr., Apt. 1535, Ottawa ON (Canada) K1H 8J6. 
Tel. (613)731-6818, or e-mail russsmith@sympatico.ca. 
MAIL ORDERS: above address: $14.95 + $3.00 HANDLING.



Trippers' Tales
stories by

E. Russell Smith
 		
ISBN 0-919431-48-8; 132 pages; $12.95 trade paperback. 1991	
 -chronicles of the abandoned trails and ancient  waterways of the Ottawa Valley, 
places you can find before the wilderness obscures the facts forever. 

 From General Store Publishing House., 
Burnstown ON K0J 1G0, telephone 1-800-465-6072.  Also $12.95 at many books stores, 
or contactthe author: 

E. Russell Smith, 1695 Playfair Dr., Apt. 1535, Ottawa ON (Canada) K1H 8J6.
 Tel. (613)731-6818, e-mail russsmith@sympatico.ca.         
About  Trippers' Tales:
"His style is impressive, especially in his occasional flashes of irony.Trippers' Tales,
 with its skilful depiction of the secret and remote places of Algonquin Park, will be in many trippers'
 packs and home libraries..." --  Pat Bolger, Valley  
"In Trippers' Tales, he shows poetic charm in his use of language and the keen eye 
of an outdoor person in his description of natural surroundings." --Jack Brown, Canadian Materials 
"Smith has a gift for weaving a tale and possesses beguiling descriptive powers... 
a Tom Thomson or an A.Y. Jackson coming to life in words." -- P.J.M. Robertson, Ottawa Citizen 



The Felicity Papers
- a novel by

E. Russell Smith
 		
ISBN 1-896182-12-7; 189 pages; $14.95 trade paperback; 1995.
 - an account of mystery and intrigue told through letters, clippings and other ephemera 
gleaned from the files of a retired Valley newspaper editor. "Felicity" could be your
town.  

$14.95 at many books stores, or contactthe author: 

E. Russell Smith, 1695 Playfair Dr., Apt. 1535, Ottawa ON (Canada) K1H 8J6. Tel. (613)731-6818,  
e-mail russsmith@sympatico.ca. MAIL ORDERS: above address.
About  The Felicity Papers
"The legerdemain works, and I fully expect to make a wrong turn one day, 
and find myself on the River Road in Felicity. I know  I've met some of the people in the book... 
I wanted to drop the hearsay and see for myself the byways and affairs of Felicity." -- Phil Jenkins, Ottawa Citizen 
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