Reading Avison is meditation.

From 1960s Winter Sun right through these last poems, Avison understood the world and conveyed its meaning in a language far more powerful than mere prose. These poems bypass intellect (although there’s plenty to think about) and connect with the soul.

Avison had a knack for finding beauty in the city. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in and around her city—Toronto—that I respect her so much. She writes about trees in the city, for example (“Ever Greens”), and they cease to become so much stunted city-ornamentation. They are transfigured in her presence: they are seen for the creation they are.

She knew the Creator, and his Word empowered hers.

Avison, Margaret. Listening: Last Poems. McClelland & Stewart, 2009.