new from above/ground press
Risky Propositions
by Frank Davey
$4
Dog Prizes
Dog prizes do not resemble literary prizes. Dog prizes regulate the size,
shape and style of dogs. They maintain traditional breed standards. To
have your pet win the grand prize at a dog show is not at all like winning
a literary prize. To win a dog prize it helps to have a traditional
friend on the judging panel. It helps that throughout the year you deliver
coffee to judges when you see them sitting at ringside. It helps that you
advertise your dog as best' in numerous canine magazines. Literary value
is quite different from kennel-club breed standards, even though
officially recognized' does mean, in doggy language, canonical.' The only
dogs considered for the grand prize are those that are entered, which
leaves a lot of inglorious dogs named Milton languishing at firesides. It
helps that you sit with prospective judges and chat about structural
problems in your competition. About them not being born the colour they
display. About them using illegal substances. Or that you observe sagely
and loudly that some move too slowly. That they are well regarded only in
other countries, or in rural communities. It helps to parade your pet and
his trophies through crowds where judges congregate. It helps to go to dog
parties. To go to the right shows. To introduce your dog in a purely
social tail-wagging way to influential breeders. To talk frequently about
good breeding. Literary prizes are intractable because editors,
ex-editors, schoolmates, and envious competitors never sit on judging
panels. When a book is called a dog, it makes prize-winning less likely.
The kennel club forbids your family members from judging your dog. Forbids
judges who once sold you a dog. Forbids judges who recently have paid you
to exhibit their own dogs. But it does not forbid ex-spouses, or your
son's judge girl-friend, or judges whose dogs compete with yours, or
judges who you once paid to exhibit your dog, or judges who were once your
kennel-help. It helps to encourage your kennel help and your children's
lovers to become judges. It helps to be a judge yourself and to make a
deal with a judge who would also like his dog to win. It is therefore both
easier and more difficult to win a dog prize than a literary prize.
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Frank Davey, once of Tish fame, is editor of Open Letter and author of
various books. His full-length poem sequence Back from the War has just
been published by Talonbooks. The poems in Risky Propositions extend the
cheeky political and textual work of his Cultural Mischief (1996), Dog
(2002), and Mr. & Mrs. G.G. (2003).
ALSO: POETICS AND PUBLIC CULTURE IN CANADA: A CONFERENCE IN HONOUR OF
FRANK DAVEY -- Conference to be held March 3-5, 2005 at University of
Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mjones/Poetics_and_Public_Culture_in_Canada.html
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