Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Biography
Lorri Neilsen-Glenn - Photo courtesy of literarywomen.wordpress.com
Born and raised in Winnipeg, MB, Lorri Neilsen Glenn has lived in Halifax, NS since 1983. In addition to her work as a poet, Glenn is also an ethnographer and essayist. Glenn has studied at the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Harvard.
Her first collection of poetry, all the perfect disguises (Broken Jaw Press), was published in 2003. 2007 saw the publication of both a chapbook, Saved String (Rubicon Press), and a second collection, Combustion (Brick Books). In 2010, Glenn published her third full collection, Lost Gospels, also through Brick Books. In 2011, Hagios Press published Threading the Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry. Most recently, Glenn was the editor for Untyping the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s (2013, Guernica).
Glenn has won or been shortlisted for numerous awards for her poetry throughout her career, including the National Magazine Awards, Short Grain Contest, CBC Literary Awards, and the Bliss Carman Poetry Awards. She has also received recognition for her scholarship, having won awards in Grain, Event Magazine, and Prairie Fire.
From 2005-2009, Glenn served as poet laureate for the Regional Municipality of Halifax. She currently teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University.
Her first collection of poetry, all the perfect disguises (Broken Jaw Press), was published in 2003. 2007 saw the publication of both a chapbook, Saved String (Rubicon Press), and a second collection, Combustion (Brick Books). In 2010, Glenn published her third full collection, Lost Gospels, also through Brick Books. In 2011, Hagios Press published Threading the Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry. Most recently, Glenn was the editor for Untyping the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s (2013, Guernica).
Glenn has won or been shortlisted for numerous awards for her poetry throughout her career, including the National Magazine Awards, Short Grain Contest, CBC Literary Awards, and the Bliss Carman Poetry Awards. She has also received recognition for her scholarship, having won awards in Grain, Event Magazine, and Prairie Fire.
From 2005-2009, Glenn served as poet laureate for the Regional Municipality of Halifax. She currently teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University.
Additional Information:
Author's Personal Website
Author's Wikipedia page
“To Begin”
Combustion
Lost Gospels
Author's Personal Website
Author's Wikipedia page
“To Begin”
Combustion
Lost Gospels
“Everyone all right over there?” The neighbour on the phone like she’s asking, “anyone for a beer?” or “How’re those tomatoes doin’?” and me, holding the receiver, hearing again the thump, feeling myself jump from the best to see him on the bathroom floor, mumbling nonsense, to see his eyes trying to fight the undertow, and then I have the phone in hand, the same one I am holding now, but that night it is shaking and I hear the first birds stirring, and the dispatcher on the other end is patient: “Is he breathing? Is he conscious?” and I am pulling words from my throat like hair from a brush, tangled, thing, then the fireman, his young son, their vehicle in the driveway, and the ambulance, and my husband, grey as the end of winter, wheeled away into god knows what’s going to happen next. Again, she’s saying “Everyone okay?” and my words are on a leash, taut, tugging hard at my chest: you know goddamn well things are not all right. I saw your lights on through the trees when they slid him through the big white doors of that vehicle and it’s two days later so you’re not calling because you’re concerned; you’re calling because you’re nosy, you’re calling because Wanda from down the hill brought her brood up to your house this morning, I saw them pass our driveway, and the two of you have been drinking coffee and talking, and this is just your bald curiosity—you don’t even have the decency to name it as such. Everyone all right? Well, fuck you. But I take a deep breath, force a smile into my voice, say, “He’s fine now. It was a scare, I’ll tell you that. It was a scare.” What the scare was you’ll never know, sweetheart, because I won’t give you that. Like I’ve kept the extra change when I’ve paid too much already, given her the plonk and left the good bottle in the cupboard. And now, her voice: “Wanda was wondering too, you know. First thing she asked this morning—‘do you know what happened over there,’ she says, ‘because I got up when I heard the siren, got dressed, came halfway up the driveway,’ she says, Wanda’s thinking it might be us, or the baby, but when she saw it wasn’t, that it was your house, not ours, she went back to bed,” “Oh,” I said, holding the phone like a freshly dead mouse. “Oh,” I said. And: “Well, how about you? How’s your growing family?”
Published in Combustion. Brick Books, 2007.
Used with permission of the author.
Published in Combustion. Brick Books, 2007.
Used with permission of the author.
Critical Analysis: Subverting the Familiar in Lorri Neilsen Glenn's "Good Fences"
Allyson Groves (for ENGL 4416: Atlantic Canadian Women Poets)
Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s “Good Fences” straddles the divide between looking and watching to illustrate the harmful effects of the latter. Her speaker becomes entangled in these effects, as “Good Fences” mimics the emotional and intellectual reaction of a person coming to realize her existence as a subject of observation and discussion. As the speaker interacts with the neighbour who has placed her in a position of observation, Neilsen Glenn deftly uses this interaction as a means to explore the Freudian uncanny. By making the familiar strange both in text and for the audience, Neilsen Glenn explores not only the relationship between speaker and neighbour, but also the relationship between reader and text.
By exploring these relationships, one also explores humanity’s preoccupation with observation. By watching others, one is entertained by the inherent difference between individuals. As Glenn demonstrates, however, there is another facet of human interaction which presents as malicious, unwelcome, and voyeuristic. It is here that Glenn explores the uncanny, as “Good Fences” illustrates the experience of a woman being interrogated by her nosy neighbor. Using this interaction to explore Freud’s uncanny, Glenn thus expands her argument to explore human interaction.
These interactions are exemplified in the proverb from which Glenn gleans her title, as “good fences make good neighbours,” juxtaposing neighbourly friendliness against the malicious nature of observation. Though the concept seems relatively straightforward, closer inspection reveals the ambiguity of the proverb, as it "contains the irresolvable tension between boundary and hospitality, between demarcation and common space, between individuality and collectively, and between other conflicting attitudes that separate people from each other" (Mieder 155). Glenn deals with this boundary in her poems, exploring the significance of the boundaries and the appropriateness of transgressing said boundaries.
According to Freud, the feeling of the uncanny can arise from the confirmation of beliefs: when something happens to support a previously held or contemplated belief, an uncanny feeling develops. It is a matter of testing the material reality or phenomena (Freud 402). It is possible to believe something irresolutely, that is, with no proof of its existence. It is when a phenomenon becomes concrete reality that the uncanny is born. Gossiping about neighbours and bald curiosity is expected as a cliché of suburban existence. Treated as an open secret, there remain boundaries that are not usually transgressed, as one simply muses about the lives of others rather than actively confronting them. Once again, it is when Glenn’s speaker is confronted with what she knows intrinsically takes place that the familiar becomes uncanny: though she may intellectually realize that her life has become the fodder for gossip, it is the active confrontation with the gossipers which inspire her rage and induce the uncanny.
However, the feeling of the uncanny is not only created for the speaker in “Good Fences,” but also for the reader. Glenn situates the readers as spectators, set outside the narrative action, forced to follow the speaker’s lead while reacting to the events of the poem. Much like the neighbor with whom the speaker interacts, the reader is not privy to the minor threads which would be stitched into a narrative cloth, despite the first-person point of view and stream-of-conscious narrative style. In effect, the reader is situated to be as much removed as the neighbor. She remains an outsider, aware of only the facts disclosed by the speaker. A sense of voyeurism begins to attach itself to the reader.
Indeed, Glenn insists as much by choosing to have the narrator’s thoughts in the second person. In her accusations, the narrator begins to refer to the neighbor—and simultaneously, the reader—as “you:” “this is just your bald curiosity – you don’t even have the decency to name it as such” (Glenn 13-14) and the speaker's later proclamation that “what the scare was you’ll never know, sweetheart, I won’t give you that” (15-16). In constructing her reaction to the neighbor in an accusatory tone, this shift into the second person voice of “you” becomes occupied, now quite self-consciously, by the reader herself. Glenn has taken the familiar and used it to make even the reader uncomfortable by confronting her with her own prying inquisitiveness. She has created the uncanny.
Glenn’s speaker quickly becomes confrontational with her neighbour, thus simultaneously confronting the reader. By placing the reader in a voyeuristic role, Neilsen Glenn collapses neighbour and reader into a single entity, as she writes “I won’t give you that. Like I’ve kept the extra change when I’ve paid too much already, given her the plonk and left the good bottle in the cupboard” (18-19). With the distant “her” used to refer to the neighbour, the accusatory “you” becomes assigned to the reader.
Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s “Good Fences” explores how the reader and the neighbour become intertwined, each assigned a voyeuristic role. Notable, however, are the intentions behind this voyeurism. Though the neighbour of Neilsen Glenn’s poem reaches out in order to satisfy her personal curiosities, the reader remains at a distance, highlighting the separation between narrative and self. Nonetheless, this inclusion of the reader in the poetic experience serves to subvert expectation, thus echoing Freud’s uncanny.
Works Cited (for analysis):
Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” Collected Papers Volume 4. Ed. Joan Riviere, Alix Strachey, and James Strachey. London: Hogarth Press, 1925. 368-408.
Mieder, Wolfgang. “’Good Fences Make Good Neighbours’: History and Significance of an Ambiguous Proverb.” Folklore 114 (2003): 155-179. Accessed 23 March 2011.
Neilsen Glenn, Lorri. “Good Fences.” Combustion. London, ON: Brick Books, 2007.
Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s “Good Fences” straddles the divide between looking and watching to illustrate the harmful effects of the latter. Her speaker becomes entangled in these effects, as “Good Fences” mimics the emotional and intellectual reaction of a person coming to realize her existence as a subject of observation and discussion. As the speaker interacts with the neighbour who has placed her in a position of observation, Neilsen Glenn deftly uses this interaction as a means to explore the Freudian uncanny. By making the familiar strange both in text and for the audience, Neilsen Glenn explores not only the relationship between speaker and neighbour, but also the relationship between reader and text.
By exploring these relationships, one also explores humanity’s preoccupation with observation. By watching others, one is entertained by the inherent difference between individuals. As Glenn demonstrates, however, there is another facet of human interaction which presents as malicious, unwelcome, and voyeuristic. It is here that Glenn explores the uncanny, as “Good Fences” illustrates the experience of a woman being interrogated by her nosy neighbor. Using this interaction to explore Freud’s uncanny, Glenn thus expands her argument to explore human interaction.
These interactions are exemplified in the proverb from which Glenn gleans her title, as “good fences make good neighbours,” juxtaposing neighbourly friendliness against the malicious nature of observation. Though the concept seems relatively straightforward, closer inspection reveals the ambiguity of the proverb, as it "contains the irresolvable tension between boundary and hospitality, between demarcation and common space, between individuality and collectively, and between other conflicting attitudes that separate people from each other" (Mieder 155). Glenn deals with this boundary in her poems, exploring the significance of the boundaries and the appropriateness of transgressing said boundaries.
According to Freud, the feeling of the uncanny can arise from the confirmation of beliefs: when something happens to support a previously held or contemplated belief, an uncanny feeling develops. It is a matter of testing the material reality or phenomena (Freud 402). It is possible to believe something irresolutely, that is, with no proof of its existence. It is when a phenomenon becomes concrete reality that the uncanny is born. Gossiping about neighbours and bald curiosity is expected as a cliché of suburban existence. Treated as an open secret, there remain boundaries that are not usually transgressed, as one simply muses about the lives of others rather than actively confronting them. Once again, it is when Glenn’s speaker is confronted with what she knows intrinsically takes place that the familiar becomes uncanny: though she may intellectually realize that her life has become the fodder for gossip, it is the active confrontation with the gossipers which inspire her rage and induce the uncanny.
However, the feeling of the uncanny is not only created for the speaker in “Good Fences,” but also for the reader. Glenn situates the readers as spectators, set outside the narrative action, forced to follow the speaker’s lead while reacting to the events of the poem. Much like the neighbor with whom the speaker interacts, the reader is not privy to the minor threads which would be stitched into a narrative cloth, despite the first-person point of view and stream-of-conscious narrative style. In effect, the reader is situated to be as much removed as the neighbor. She remains an outsider, aware of only the facts disclosed by the speaker. A sense of voyeurism begins to attach itself to the reader.
Indeed, Glenn insists as much by choosing to have the narrator’s thoughts in the second person. In her accusations, the narrator begins to refer to the neighbor—and simultaneously, the reader—as “you:” “this is just your bald curiosity – you don’t even have the decency to name it as such” (Glenn 13-14) and the speaker's later proclamation that “what the scare was you’ll never know, sweetheart, I won’t give you that” (15-16). In constructing her reaction to the neighbor in an accusatory tone, this shift into the second person voice of “you” becomes occupied, now quite self-consciously, by the reader herself. Glenn has taken the familiar and used it to make even the reader uncomfortable by confronting her with her own prying inquisitiveness. She has created the uncanny.
Glenn’s speaker quickly becomes confrontational with her neighbour, thus simultaneously confronting the reader. By placing the reader in a voyeuristic role, Neilsen Glenn collapses neighbour and reader into a single entity, as she writes “I won’t give you that. Like I’ve kept the extra change when I’ve paid too much already, given her the plonk and left the good bottle in the cupboard” (18-19). With the distant “her” used to refer to the neighbour, the accusatory “you” becomes assigned to the reader.
Lorri Neilsen Glenn’s “Good Fences” explores how the reader and the neighbour become intertwined, each assigned a voyeuristic role. Notable, however, are the intentions behind this voyeurism. Though the neighbour of Neilsen Glenn’s poem reaches out in order to satisfy her personal curiosities, the reader remains at a distance, highlighting the separation between narrative and self. Nonetheless, this inclusion of the reader in the poetic experience serves to subvert expectation, thus echoing Freud’s uncanny.
Works Cited (for analysis):
Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” Collected Papers Volume 4. Ed. Joan Riviere, Alix Strachey, and James Strachey. London: Hogarth Press, 1925. 368-408.
Mieder, Wolfgang. “’Good Fences Make Good Neighbours’: History and Significance of an Ambiguous Proverb.” Folklore 114 (2003): 155-179. Accessed 23 March 2011.
Neilsen Glenn, Lorri. “Good Fences.” Combustion. London, ON: Brick Books, 2007.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Cole, Ardra Linette, J. Mary Knowles, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, ed. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The Art of Writing Inquiry. Halifax, NS: Backalong Books, 2001.
Glenn, Lorri Neilsen. all the perfect disguises. Fredericton, NB: Broken Jaw Press, 2003.
---. "And a Tatted Scarf, Sfakian Black." Malahat Review. (2012): 118.
---. “Believe You Me.” Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle. Ed. Marjorie May Anderson. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2006. n.p.
---. “Beyond Reason.” Creative Expression, Creative Education: Creativity as a Primary Rationale for Education. Ed. Robert Kelly and Carleton Derek Leggo. Calgary: Detseling Enterprises, 2008. 191-194.
---. "Blur." Juniper 3.3 (Winter 2020). Juniper, juniperpoetry.com.
---. Combustion. London, ON: Brick Books, 2007.
---. “Context for the CWILA Numbers.” Canadian Women in the Literary Arts. Canadian Women in the Literary Arts, n.d.
---. "Enfranchise Verb [with Obj.]." Prairie Fire. 37.1 (2016): 88.
---. Following the River: Traces of Red River Women. Hamilton, ON: Wolsak and Wynn, 2017.
---. "Frozen." Waiting: An Anthology of Essays. Edited by Rona Altrows and Julie Sedivy, Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 2018.
---. "The Gathering." Atlantis 39.2 (2018): 104-105. Web. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, journals.msvu.ca, 10 Dec. 2018.
---. “Higher Education.” The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take On the Ivory Tower. Ed. Deborah Keahy and Deborah Schnitzer. Calgary: U of Calgary P, 2003. 178-.
---. "How to Kill Her." Malahat Review. (2016): 121.
---. “Is there a Poet in the House? A Handbook for Users.” The Antigonish Review 132 (Winter 2003): 108. WorldCat.
---. "June 21." Essay Daily, essaydaily.org, 6 Aug 2018.
---. Knowing Her Place: Research Literacies and Feminist Occasions. San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press; Big Tancook Island, NS: Backalong Books, 1998.
---. Literacy and Living: the Literate Lives of Three Adults. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1989.
---. Lost Gospels. London, ON: Brick Books, 2010.
---. "Maxime’s." Prairie Fire. 33.2 (2012): 75.
---. “Resonance, Loss.” Lyric Ecology: An Appreciation of the Work of Jan Zwicky. Ed. Mark Dickinson and Clair Goulet. Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2010. 1-7.
---. Saved String. Edmonton, AB: Rubicon Press, 2007.
---. "Shorter Days." Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ins, Outs, Ups & Downs of Marriage. Edited by Jane Silcott and Fiona Tinwei Lam, Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlin Press, 2018: 87-88.
---. A Stone in My Shoe: Teaching Literacy in Times of Change. Winnipeg, MB: Peguis, 1994.
---. Threading the Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry. Regina, SK: Hagios Press, 2011.
---. “Undone/Mortal Arguments/Night Street Repairs.” Rev. of Undone by Sue Goyette, Mortal Arguments by Sue Sinclair, and Night Street Repairs: Poems by A.F. Moritz. The Antigonish Review 141/142 (Spring/Summer 2005): 179. WorldCat.
---. Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s. Toronto: Guernica, 2013.
---, and Carsten Knox, ed. Salt Lines: Writers on Writing. Big Tancook Island, NS: Backalong Books, 2012.
Olson, Tawnie. Three Songs on Poems by Lorri Neilsen Glenn. Performed by Magali Simard-Galdès and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard.
SoundCloud, soundcloud.com, 3 Dec. 2016.
Secondary Sources:
Clarke, George E. "Threading Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry by Lorri Neilsen Glenn (review)." University of Toronto Quarterly. 82.3 (2013): 541-542.
Cunningham, John Herbert. “Lost Gospels by Lorri Neilsen Glenn.” Rev. of Lost Gospels by Lorri Neilsen Glenn. Prairie Fire 10.3 (2010): n.p.
Porter, Michelle. "'You're not this and you're not that': author Lorri Neilsen Glenn." Interview with Lorri Neilsen Glenn. The Independent,
theindependent.ca, 17 Jul. 2018.
Rogers, Sheila. "Lorri Neilsen Glenn on 'Following the River.'" Interview with Lorri Neilsen Glenn. The Next Chapter, cbc.ca, 9 Apr. 2018.
Sebastianutti, Lori. "From Signorina to Mamma: GUSH, Menstruation, and Infertility Through the Lens of Culture." Hamilton Review of Books, hamiltonreviewofbooks.com, 28 May 2019.
Zimmer, Becky. "The story of Red River grandmothers." Humboldt Journal, humboldtjournal.ca, 17 Mar. 2018.
Cole, Ardra Linette, J. Mary Knowles, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, ed. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The Art of Writing Inquiry. Halifax, NS: Backalong Books, 2001.
Glenn, Lorri Neilsen. all the perfect disguises. Fredericton, NB: Broken Jaw Press, 2003.
---. "And a Tatted Scarf, Sfakian Black." Malahat Review. (2012): 118.
---. “Believe You Me.” Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle. Ed. Marjorie May Anderson. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2006. n.p.
---. “Beyond Reason.” Creative Expression, Creative Education: Creativity as a Primary Rationale for Education. Ed. Robert Kelly and Carleton Derek Leggo. Calgary: Detseling Enterprises, 2008. 191-194.
---. "Blur." Juniper 3.3 (Winter 2020). Juniper, juniperpoetry.com.
---. Combustion. London, ON: Brick Books, 2007.
---. “Context for the CWILA Numbers.” Canadian Women in the Literary Arts. Canadian Women in the Literary Arts, n.d.
---. "Enfranchise Verb [with Obj.]." Prairie Fire. 37.1 (2016): 88.
---. Following the River: Traces of Red River Women. Hamilton, ON: Wolsak and Wynn, 2017.
---. "Frozen." Waiting: An Anthology of Essays. Edited by Rona Altrows and Julie Sedivy, Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 2018.
---. "The Gathering." Atlantis 39.2 (2018): 104-105. Web. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, journals.msvu.ca, 10 Dec. 2018.
---. “Higher Education.” The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take On the Ivory Tower. Ed. Deborah Keahy and Deborah Schnitzer. Calgary: U of Calgary P, 2003. 178-.
---. "How to Kill Her." Malahat Review. (2016): 121.
---. “Is there a Poet in the House? A Handbook for Users.” The Antigonish Review 132 (Winter 2003): 108. WorldCat.
---. "June 21." Essay Daily, essaydaily.org, 6 Aug 2018.
---. Knowing Her Place: Research Literacies and Feminist Occasions. San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press; Big Tancook Island, NS: Backalong Books, 1998.
---. Literacy and Living: the Literate Lives of Three Adults. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1989.
---. Lost Gospels. London, ON: Brick Books, 2010.
---. "Maxime’s." Prairie Fire. 33.2 (2012): 75.
---. “Resonance, Loss.” Lyric Ecology: An Appreciation of the Work of Jan Zwicky. Ed. Mark Dickinson and Clair Goulet. Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2010. 1-7.
---. Saved String. Edmonton, AB: Rubicon Press, 2007.
---. "Shorter Days." Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ins, Outs, Ups & Downs of Marriage. Edited by Jane Silcott and Fiona Tinwei Lam, Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlin Press, 2018: 87-88.
---. A Stone in My Shoe: Teaching Literacy in Times of Change. Winnipeg, MB: Peguis, 1994.
---. Threading the Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry. Regina, SK: Hagios Press, 2011.
---. “Undone/Mortal Arguments/Night Street Repairs.” Rev. of Undone by Sue Goyette, Mortal Arguments by Sue Sinclair, and Night Street Repairs: Poems by A.F. Moritz. The Antigonish Review 141/142 (Spring/Summer 2005): 179. WorldCat.
---. Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s. Toronto: Guernica, 2013.
---, and Carsten Knox, ed. Salt Lines: Writers on Writing. Big Tancook Island, NS: Backalong Books, 2012.
Olson, Tawnie. Three Songs on Poems by Lorri Neilsen Glenn. Performed by Magali Simard-Galdès and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard.
SoundCloud, soundcloud.com, 3 Dec. 2016.
Secondary Sources:
Clarke, George E. "Threading Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry by Lorri Neilsen Glenn (review)." University of Toronto Quarterly. 82.3 (2013): 541-542.
Cunningham, John Herbert. “Lost Gospels by Lorri Neilsen Glenn.” Rev. of Lost Gospels by Lorri Neilsen Glenn. Prairie Fire 10.3 (2010): n.p.
Porter, Michelle. "'You're not this and you're not that': author Lorri Neilsen Glenn." Interview with Lorri Neilsen Glenn. The Independent,
theindependent.ca, 17 Jul. 2018.
Rogers, Sheila. "Lorri Neilsen Glenn on 'Following the River.'" Interview with Lorri Neilsen Glenn. The Next Chapter, cbc.ca, 9 Apr. 2018.
Sebastianutti, Lori. "From Signorina to Mamma: GUSH, Menstruation, and Infertility Through the Lens of Culture." Hamilton Review of Books, hamiltonreviewofbooks.com, 28 May 2019.
Zimmer, Becky. "The story of Red River grandmothers." Humboldt Journal, humboldtjournal.ca, 17 Mar. 2018.
