LIVERPOOL – Liverpool native Cory Lavender has recently released his first solo chapbook or small book of poems.
Entitled Lawson Roy's Revelation, the book’s title comes from the first poem in the book. The poems take place along the South Shore and discuss familial stories and coastal culture like hunting and fishing, Lavender says.
“Along with a few other poems in the book, it is written roughly in the voice of my maternal grandfather, as I half-imagine, half-remember it,” says Lavender.
Andrew Steeves from Gaspereau Press designed the cover, including a crib board headstone referencing a poem in the book about playing crib and the book's dealings with death and the dead as well, says Lavender.
Lavender says people who expect that they would not enjoy poetry, or a poetry reading, tend to say that his poems are very relatable and that they enjoyed them more than they expected.
“I pride myself on not being a terribly obscure poet, and I do try to offer poems that people can relate to,” he says.
It was back when he was a student at Liverpool Regional High School that Lavender says he first wanted to become a poet. His love of poetry began with reading volumes by Leonard Cohen and Irving Layton he found in the school library.
Since then, Lavender has published poems and a couple essays in a number of literary journals like Riddle Fence out of Newfoundland and the Antigonish Review, and in an anthology of poems called Halifax from Frog Hollow Press. Lawson Roy's Revelation is his first solo publication.
Lavender says he is always working on new poems and in the next few years hopes to have a full-length poetry collection put together, along similar lines as the chapbook, including some of those poems, but longer and dealing with a wider range of themes.
Besides writing poetry, Lavender is a freelance copyeditor and ghostwriter who is always looking for new and interesting work. When not working, reading or writing, he says he likes to spend a fair amount of time walking in the woods or along the shore.
To celebrate the launch of Lawson Roy's Revelation, there will be an event on April 14 at 4 p.m. at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre lobby at 219 Main St., Liverpool. The event is free of charge, but attendees are welcome to give a donation and/or purchase the chapbook, as they're a steal at only $5, says Lavender. There will be some coffee and treats.
“I will be giving a reading,” says Lavender. “I'm quite an enthusiastic and well-practiced reader of my work, as well as signing books if people wish to have them signed.”
Lawson Roy's Revelation is available at The Port Grocer and Coastal Queens Place in Queens County, Lexicon Books and Lahave River Books in Lunenburg County, and Bookmark in Halifax, as well as online through Gaspereau Press.
