Annal:2005 Griffin Poetry Prize – Canadian
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Griffin Poetry Prize in the year 2005. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida: Poems
- 2005 Griffin Canadian winner
- Score: 10.55
Changing on the Fly: The Best Lyric Poems of George Bowering
- 2005 Griffin Canadian shortlist
- Score: 6.55
George Bowering has been an inimitable, witty, eclectic and electrifying voice in Canadian letters for decades. He has published more than 40 books in a variety of genres and has won the Governor General’s Award twice. But it is his poetry—thoughtful, precise, lyrical, irreverent, flaunting convention and blending styles and genres—that is the touchstone of Bowering’s work. Changing on the Fly collects the best of Bowering’s poetry in one fascinating, revelatory and immensely readable volume.
“Writing a poem is like paring an apple. If you can do it in one continuous motion, it will be very satisfactory.” —George BoweringCamber: Selected Poems
- 2005 Griffin Canadian shortlist
- Score: 6.55
The poetry of Don McKay is renowned for its piquant wit, lyric emotion, and pitch-perfect vernacular music. His work has received national acclaim and the recognition of many awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, which he has won twice, and, most recently, from the prestigious and internationally known Griffin Poetry Prize, for which his most recent book was a finalist.
Camber is the lilt in the physics of flight, the anti-gravitational alchemy of both wings and poetry. It is also at the heart of the poetry of Don McKay. Spanning three decades, and drawing on all of McKay’s major collections, this selection distills the essence of his craft and provides an overview of, and an ideal introduction to, the work to date of one of Canada’s most celebrated poets.


