Link to Exile Editions & Travesties: (coming soon)
What critics say...
Travesties scopes out the surreal with compassion and charity, relishing in the rapture and dreamscapes that Poetry delivers its disciples – Jirgens’ 20/20 observations impress themselves upon whitened sheets of the mind, like pages pressed against a child’s chest by their own fast-forward pace, “firmly held / by air itself."
—George Elliott Clarke Parliamentary and Toronto Poet Laureate emeriti
In Travesties, Jirgens acts the part of the light-footed cool cat, the nimble neo-jester, wending between dignity and parody, welding our unwieldy collective past to our often forgetful present. He recounts telephone calls with dead authors, laments demolished local taverns, and sings songs for endangered dugongs, using every tool in his artistic belt, from rhyming quatrains to quasi-phonetic spelling. What at first appears to be a rangy pastiche quickly coalesces into a metacognitive poetics that lays bare the writer’s mind at work, at play, and forever in dialogue with the world around him. Travesties is an invite to a private house party disguised as a poetry collection—and you should go.
—Jade Wallace author of Anomia​​
travesties is a mind blowing work uv homage pomes 2 othr writrs poets that ar all sew mooving intricate metaphysical n sew direkt th poets tell us like john cage sz at th beginning uv ths genius brillyant book we possess nothing a loving prson cud enjoy manee yeers uv time reeding ths beautiful book all th care n love 4 thees othr writrs karl jirgens brings thru his heart felt pome essays uv theyr lives n theyr writing art evreething yu want in life reed ths book n find it all heer th array uv writrs he brings us is phenomenal daring n beautiful a profound offring
—bill bissett (Order of Canada recipient, 2024)
In shape-shifting, quixotic poems that serve as homages, travesties, and dreamscapes, Karl Jirgens excavates literary friendships to create a world where “language manifests / a sacred space.” Travesties is Jirgens at the height of his powers – witty, mischievous, and charismatic.
—Jim Johnstone, author of The King of Terrors
Composed through declarative gestures, twists of narrative purpose, visual montages and philosophical inquiry, it would be impossible to not enjoy Karl Jirgens’ lyric hesitations and wild propulsions. The wait has been worth it.
—rob mclennan, author of the book of smaller
About Travesties
Preface:
To wear the robes of purple,
or the sandals of a slave,
is a choice that you are given,
from the cradle to the grave,
but neither one is better,
and both the days will burn,
and each one will provide you,
the lessons you must learn
Jirgens’ Travesties featuring collected poems is divided into 5 sections including;
Travesties p. 1, Homages p. 17, Lingo p. 55, Raptures p. 85, & Dreamscapes p. 93. The book’s title suggests an ironic sense of modesty. The “Homages” section includes poems dedicated to writers, artists and editors who appeared in Rampike magazine, including Kathy Acker, Alanna Bondar, bill bissett, Collette Broeders, George Eliot Clarke, Frank Davey, bpNichol, Alistair MacLeod, Eugene McNamara, NourbeSe Philip, Al Purdy, Judith Fitzgerald, Julia Kristeva, Robert Kroetsch, Ray Souster, and Phil Hall. The “Travesties” and “Lingo” sections reference Steven Ross Smith, Penn Kemp, William Bronk, Julia Kristeva, plus Jack and Jill. The “Dreamscapes” section refers to Norval Morrisseau, Enrico Fermi bp Nichol, and Icarus, while raising questions about perception, and eco-poetics. This book’s poetry responds to authors such as Margaret Atwood, Italo Calvino, and Erin Mouré, among many others.
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Travesties is a brilliantly crafted collection of poems about the world we live in forwarding fundamental questions about ourselves, life, sexuality, and death. Karl Jirgens, through his range of innovative and experimental literary expressions, and passionate demonstrations of delight for shifts in perception/altered states/eco-poetics, powerfully reminds readers of the bond between every individual, all living things, and the world that continuously shapes us. The book is divided into 5 sections: Travesties (covert irony), Homages (gentle humility), Lingo (language play), Raptures (oceanic pieces), and Dreamscapes (embracing surrealism). CIP (Exile Editions)
“Our poetry now is the realization that we possess nothing.”
—JOHN CAGE, 1952
Review Excerpt
"After many years of publishing and promoting poetry and poets (note the effective use of alliteration here) through his Rampike magazine and his role as professor at several universities, it’s nice to see that Exile Editions has seen fit to publish Karl Jirgens’ first poetry collection, Travesties. The book is divided into five sections: Travesties (covert irony), Homages (gentle humility), Lingo (language play), Raptures (oceanic pieces), and Dreamscapes (embracing surrealism).
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Perhaps my favourite piece in the book is a prose poem titled Father’s Day: Homage to Robert Kroetsch. wherein the narrator (Karl?) is visiting his 90-year old father — who is suffering from Parkinson’s, losing his physical and mental faculties — in hospital. The piece is written in a manner that manages to convey the awkward sadness and helplessness of the situation, though without becoming maudlin and cloyingly sentimental..."
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—Stan Rogal (from Periodicities)
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Sample Texts
Italo Calvino keeps calling
​
Italo Calvino keeps calling.
Phoning. Knocking at my door.
I pretend I’m not home.
Italo Calvino is outside my house
hounding me, he
keeps shouting, calling my name.
I keep pretending that I’m not home.
He keeps phoning.
Keeps sending text messages.
Italo Calvino keeps calling!
He sends emails asking why I won’t
respond.
He sends telegrams.
He contacts me on social media.
He wants to talk about the art of fiction.
He wants to talk about The Paris
Review.
He wants to discuss probabilities.
He wants to talk about interviews.
He wants to talk about his translators.
He keeps calling me and wants to talk
about wordplay.
He wants to talk about impossibilities,
about
new story ideas, and flipping genres.
He wants to talk about gathering cheese
on the moon.
He says he still has a very tall ladder, but
things have changed.
The moon is much farther, compared to
when he was young.
He wants to talk about a winter’s
night.
He keeps calling about new beginnings.
He wants to talk about unwritten words
and the cracked state of the world.
Paper Possibilities
​
I recall when I was 5,
I walked with a sheet of paper
held in front of me,
ready to cover it
with a coloured pencil.
imagination poised/posed
peacock blue,
sunburst yellow,
rainbow possibilities.
As I walked I held the paper
close to my chest and noticed
that I could
let go
so long
as I kept moving, it stayed there,
held in place by the pressure of air that,
till then
I had thought insubstantial,
but the air
had a hand as firm as any and
held the sheet flat against
my chest
as I walked,
hands held out,
ready,
in case the paper slipped,
but it did not
so long
as I kept my faith
and my pace,
without doubt,
a wonder
to my
mind.
but
there
it stayed
firmly held
by air itself