Raymond Souster

Raymond Holmes Souster (born 15 January 1921) is a Canadian poet.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he grew up and continues to live in the Humberside area of the city. Souster joined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1939 and, apart from his service in World War II, worked there until his retirement in 1985. With Louis Dudek and Irving Layton he collaborated on "CONTACT" magazine and Contact Press. Souster helped to establish the League of Canadian Poets and, from 1967 to 1972, served as the first president of the organization.

Souster's "The Colour of the Times" won the 1964 Governor General's Award for poetry. "Hanging In" (1979) won the City of Toronto Book Award in 1980. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. Souster's "Uptown Downtown" (2006) was nominated for the 2007 City of Toronto Book Award.

Bibliography

* "When We Are Young" (First Statement, 1946)
* "Go To Sleep, World" - 1947
* "The Winter of Time" - 1949 (as "Raymond Holmes")
* "City Hall Street" - 1951
* "Cerberus" (with Irving Layton and Louis Dudek, Contact Press, 1952)
* "Shake Hands with the Hangman: Poems 1940-52" (Contact Press, 1953)
* "A Dream That Is Dying" - 1954
* "Walking Death" (Contact Press, 1954)
* "For What Time Slays" - 1955
* "Poets 56" - 1956 (editor)
* "The Selected Poems" - 1956 (edited by Louis Dudek)
* "Crepe-Hanger's Carnival: Selected Poems 1955-58" (Contact Press, 1958)
* "A Local Pride" (Contact Press, 1962)
* "Place of Meeting: Poems 1958-1960" {includes lithographs by Michael Snow; Isaacs Gallery / Gallery Editions II, 1962)
* "The Colour of the Times" - 1964
* "Ten Elephants on Yonge Street" - 1965
* "New Wave Canada" - 1966 (editor)
* "As Is" - 1967
* "Lost and Found" - 1968
* "Generation Now" - 1970 (editor)
* "Made In Canada" - 1970 (editor)
* "Selected Poems of Raymond Souster" - 1972 (edited by Michael Maklem)
* "On Target" - 1972
* "Sights and Sounds" - 1973 (editor)
* "100 Poems of Nineteenth Century Canada" - 1974 (editor)
* "Change-Up" - 1974
* "These Loved, These Hated Lands" - 1975
* "Double Header" - 1975
* "Rain-Check" - 1975
* "Extra Innings" - 1977
* "Vapour and Blue: Souster Selects Campbell" - 1978 (editor)
* "Hanging In" (Oberon, 1979)
* "Poems of a Snow-Eyed Country" - 1980 (editor)
* "Uniform Title" - 1980
* "Going the Distance" - 1983
* "Jubilee of Death" - 1984
* "Queen City" - 1984
* "Flight of the Roller-Coaster" - 1985
* "Into This Dark Earth" - 1985 (with James Deahl)
* "Powassan’s Drum: Selected Poems of Duncan Campbell Scott" - 1985 (edited with Douglas Lochhead)
* Windflower: Selected Poems of Bliss Carman - 1986 (with Douglas Lochhead)
* "It Takes All Kinds" - 1986
* "The Eyes of Love" - 1987
* "Asking for More" - 1988
* "*Running Out the Clock" - 1991
* "Old Bank Notes" - 1993
* "Riding the Long Black Horse" - 1993
* "No Sad Songs Wanted Here" - 1995
* "Close to Home" - 1996
* "Collected Poems of Raymond Souster" (ten volumes, covering 1940 - 2000)
* "Close to Home" (Oberon, 1998)
* "Of Time & Toronto" (Oberon, 2000)
* "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (Oberon, 2002)
* "Twenty-three New Poems" - 2003
* "Down to Earth" (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2006)
* "Wondrous Wobbly World: Poems for the New Millennium" (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2006)
* "Uptown Downtown" (Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2006)

Critical Works

* Louis Dudek, "Groundhog Among the Stars: The Poetry of Raymond Souster," "Canadian Literature", 22 (1964):34-49
* Hugh Cook, "Development in the Early Poetry of Raymond Souster," "Studies in Canadian Literature", 3 (1978):113-118
* Francis Mansbridge, "A Delicate Balance: Craft in Raymond Souster's Poetry," "Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews", 4 (1979):45-51
* Frank Davey, "Louis Dudek & Raymond Souster" (1980)
* Bruce Whiteman, "Collected Poems of Raymond Souster: Bibliography" (1984)
* "Raymond Souster," Canadian Writers and Their Works, ed. Robert Lecker, Jack David, and Ellen Quigley (1985), 5:237-76
* Gary Geddes, "A Cursed and Singular Blessing," "Canadian Literature", 54 (1972):27-36

Discography

*"Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD" Canadian Poetry Association — 2001 ISBN 1-55253-032-9 (CD#3) (with Gwendolyn MacEwen )

External links

*" [http://www.robertfulford.com/souster.html The wonderful enigma of Raymond Souster] ", "Globe & Mail", 24 June 1998
* Raymond Souster's profile at the [http://www.poets.ca/linktext/direct/souster.htm League of Canadian Poets]
* [http://www.batteredbox.com/ The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box] , Souster's current publisher