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Winter
Carolyn Zonailo
Morgaine House
Pointe Claire, Quebec
1998

Winter is a poem in celebration of the diversity of cultures in the long literary tradition of the city of Montreal. It is also a lament for a growing linguistic intolerance, fuelled by the politics of separation, increasing in evidence as Montreal turns toward the millennium.

Drawing upon her ancestral heritage, poet Carolyn Zonailo links the winter city of Montreal with the historical and literary city of St. Petersburg. Winter proceeds via metaphorical associations—as diverse as Hades, Anna Akhmatova, and Jim Morrison—rather than by literal event. Winter is the poet's attempt to understand the political and otherwise climate of her time.

Critical Praise for Winter

“Winter is powerful and convincing. It shows again that real emotion and a passion for truth can generate a very genuine poetry. I was much moved. Congratulations”

Louis Dudek, McGill University

“I was particularly struck by your incisive observations about ethnic nationalism, the revision of history …You are to be congratulated on this work.”

William Weintraub, Montreal, Quebec

“I found Zonailo’s poem Winter quite an impressive achievement. It is a fine tapestry of the lyrical, satirical, and political which coalesces into a compelling poetic statement... Each poem has its own unique force. Winter is among the best things CZ has done. Has echoes of the imaginative vitality of Zonailo’s best work, as in ‘Journey to the Sibyl’.”

Marya Fiamengo, University of British Columbia