Shrinking by Eleonore Schönmaier

September 9, 2022
Poet name: Eleonore Schonmaier Poem title: Shrinking Poem: You’re on Crete while I stand where rolled carpets lean under your northern street number and next door inside the flooring store the man says, “I thought you were visiting the neighbours” as I stare at the 4 cm by 4 cm turquoise sample named Greek Island and I’ll lay this linoleum in my entrance as I wait for your next visit when you’ll again walk up my three flights of stairs whistling all the way. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Eleonore Schönmaier Previously published in Published in talking about strawberries all of the time in April 2021. Eleonore Schönmaier most recent collection is Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021). Wavelengths of Your Song (MQUP, 2013) was published in German translation as Wellenlängen deines Liedes (parasitenpresse, 2020). Dust Blown Side of the Journey (MQUP, 2017) was a finalist for the Eyelands Book Awards (Greece). Treading Fast Rivers (MQUP) was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best first book of poetry in Canada. She has taught advanced fiction courses at St. Mary’s University, creative writing at Mount Saint Vincent University, and has worked as a poetry mentor for the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. Her poetry has been set to music by Canadian, Dutch, Scottish, American and Greek composers and she has performed her poetry in concert with The New European Ensemble among others. She has won the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, the Earle Birney Prize, and the National Broadsheet Contest 2019. She has also been widely anthologised in the United States and in Canada including Wild Gods (New Rivers Press, 2020) and Best Canadian Poetry in English. eleonoreschonmaier.com