The Alphabet Game: A bp Nichol Reader (editted by Darren Wershler-Henry and Lori Emerson
Coach House Books, 334 pp)

bpNichol inducts his reader into the play and challenge of language, but where should a reader begin Nichol?

Although Nichol is best know for his concrete poetry, he produced an extraordinary amount of writing during his career—including scripts for Fraggle Rock. The Alphabet Game is a collection that offers readers who are new to Nichol an ideal first encounter. Those who are already familiar with Nichol will be attracted to the text because it includes excerpts from some more difficult to find publications.

Having not read Nichol at length, I approached the book with quiet cynicism, expecting that the humanity which draws me to art would suffer, as it sometimes does, under the impulse of literary experimentation. However, Nichol’s work is both beautiful and intellectual; the warmth in his words crowns his innovative endeavours.

The Alphabet Game displays Nichol’s stylistic diversity, offering excerpts from not only his groundbreaking concrete poetry but also from later works, including his unfinished lifelong poem The Martyrology. This collection gives the reader a perspective on nearly three decades of Nichol’s writerly development and experimentation. Editors Wershler-Henry and Emerson include both witty and serious selections from Nichol, displaying a breadth of emotions he is capable of evoking. The Alphabet Game foregrounds the envious power and challenge of strong writing.

In selections from Translating Translating Apollinaire, Nichol applies numerous creative permutations and arrangements of a single poem to place side-by-side multiple and untethered interpretations. With simple modifications to single words, Nichol imbues them with additional meaning in Still Water.

Inclusions from the nine books of The Martyrology are the highlight of this reader. The editors found the selection process from these books “particularly and excruciatingly difficult,” however they manage to present a consistent and strong poem. Although this process of selection essentially creates a poem unintended by Nichol (if that is possible), the assemblage ultimately prompts readers to seek out The Martyrology in its original form.

The Alphabet Game succeeds in showing Nichol’s lifelong concern with interrogating linguistic assumptions and habits, however it also seems to disclose much about the poet himself. A haunting question of Nichol’s writing concerns the disarming authenticity that permeates his work; to what extent does the writer avail himself to the reader? I do not yet have an answer to this question. The hallmark of good art, Nichol’s writing invites and withstands rereading and critical investigations.

The Alphabet Game is an excellent place to wade into Nichol. Those who do will likely be swept forward into one of the many publications included in this marvelous collection.

For those interested in hearing Nichol’s work, particularly his sound poetry, the Penn Sound offers mp3 recordings of his performances.

Other Reviews of The Alphabet Game:
The Edmonton Journal had a particularly well-written review.
The Torontoist has a strong, short review as well.
I also found an interview with Lori Emerson here.

Here’s what Mike says about bp:

His wit, along with the seriousness, was there to keep the language free and untethered, to keep the poem aware of its roots, like a tuxedo worn with bare feet in a muddy river … No other writer of our time and place was so diverse, attempted so much, and never lost sight of his intent. – Michael Ondaatje