The Art of Floating, Poetry by Melanie Marttila

Reviewed by Lisa Timpf

The Art of Floating, published by Latitude 46 Publishing, offers 60 poems penned by Sudbury-based author Melanie Marttila. The collection is divided into five sections, Drunken Moon, The Art of Floating, White Noise Machine, Lunar Observation, and Fire and Ice.

Many of the poems offer a strong sense of place. The Ambassador Bridge, Espanola, and Nipissing narrows, for example, are referenced in specific poems.

Nature, and natural life, is a focus of many of the poems. Peregrine falcons, geese, seagulls, rabbits, foxes, ravens, starlings, and pileated woodpeckers are mentioned, as are spruce, birch, pines, and poplars. These living entities are woven into the poems with a sense of empathy and insight.

In “The neighbourhood stray,” Marttila describes starlings’ laments for a cat-killed companion as a “riotous dirge / cutting through / the patter of rain.” In “marching orders,” geese are a “troop of / feathered soldiers” that “marches over / mown lawns / with purpose.”

The sweep of seasons, most notably the freeze of winter and the promise of spring, also run through some of the poems. “Avalon” notes:

Rain cracks open the scent of spring blooms:
cherry and crab apple and apple.
Lilacs on the verge.

“Starling Spring” describes the arrival of springtime:

the spiralling shift and sweep of a
thousand tiny wings
the dark blue-green
so thick among the sycamore branches

“February blahs” captures a feeling that may be familiar to many Canadians, though timing may vary: “it’s January and yet / one sniff confirms / spring is on its way.”

The Lunar Observation section includes a number of powerful poems. The majority of poems in this section offer musings based on the poet’s observations of the moon on different days of the lunar cycle. In “Luna,” Marttila writes

She rises,
moves through her
slow dance,
sheds veils
one by one.

“Twilight” includes a section titled “Day 14” that notes

towards the east
harvest moon rises
orange and monstrous
through atmosphere and pollution
presaging more than
its circling around
earth and sun

My favourite poem in the collection comes in the final section, Fire and Ice. Titled “relativity speaking,” the poem explores the notion of relativity, and the collision of theory with experienced reality:

my cosmologist will never believe that
neither sleep nor dreams know time,
that we live the past and future every night.
having witnessed the beginning
foreseen the end
only to forget each morning—
i both understand and
do not.

Marttila’s poems employ striking and unusual metaphors and images. One example comes in the poem “they cannot weather this,” with the line, “if wishes were horses, / Clydesdales would never gallop through / drifts here.” “The Ambassador Bridge” draws a convincing parallel between the bridge and a black hole, while “The Wounding” includes the lines,

Zorro could have
painted this night’s sky,
clouds slashed
across the horizon

The Endnotes are worth visiting, providing background about some of the poems as well as insightful comments about writing. The Endnotes also explain where original versions of some of the poems have been published, with a bit more background and context that just a mention of the publication.

The Art of Floating is a collection meant to be savoured. I found deeper appreciation of several of the poems upon re-reading. Exploring multiple themes from nature to the moon and stars and points in between, Marttila’s collection offers insightful observations, a resonant sense of place, and original, striking imagery.

---

About the Author

Melanie Marttila has been writing since the age of seven, when she made her first submission to CBC's "Pencil Box." She is a graduate of the University of Windsor’s masters program in English Literature and Creative Writing and her poetry has appeared in Polar Borealis, Polar Starlight, and Sulphur. Her short fiction has appeared in Pulp Literature, On Spec, Pirating Pups , and Home for the Howlidays. She lives and writes in Sudbury, Ontario, in the house where three generations of her family have lived, on the street that bears her surname, with her spouse and their dog, Torvi.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Latitude 46 (April 6 2024)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 110 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1988989744

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1988989747