 All That Saves Us
Winner of the Lapointe Award for Poetry
All That Saves Us is a first collection by a talented songwriter and poet. The poems in this collection by Lea Harper are the culmination of a 10-year work in progress. Throughout its journey to completion the more prevalent themes emerged. Lea says of her work "I think I have attempted to explore the necessary relationship between life and death, loss and fulfillment. Only when our angles or demons take special notice of us do we struggle to define the energy of survival and save what we can from the clutches of darkness... The world devours beauty and sentences the spirit to mediocritybut also admits the heart its moments of grace in the sudden rapture of minor epiphanies. "
0-88753-308-6
$16.95
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 Shadow Crossing
In this second collection after the successful All That Saves Us, praised by critics as being "timely and unique," and winner of the LaPointe Prize, Lea Harper turns her attention to the subtleties in how experience shapes our attitudes.The signature of the past bares witness in the present. For example, a life is overshadowed by the sudden appearance of one's birth mother. Or a daughter grapples with her origins of 'mixed' blood, or a country struggles with dual allegiances. Harper, a Juno nominee two years ago for her songwriting, has performed all over Canada, the U.S., Jamaica and South America. Her poetry has appeared in journals and magazines all over the world. Writer Ronnie Brown wrote of her this way: "Harper is a perfectionist. In her talented hands poetry becomes a scalpel with which she deftly excises all the darkness, disease and decay beneath the surface of things and lays it on the lines for all of us to read.
0-88753-346-9
$17.95
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Tell me about this new book. What's it about? What issues does it address?
The book is divided into three sections, each with its own distinctive point of view. The first section, "Ghost of God" is written on a spiritual level, counterbalancing human and eternal principles. "Loose Cannons" is on a mental plane, outlining various belief systems we adopt to cope, or what we are willing to subject the spirit to in order to find clues, however erroneous they may be. Section three is "Trespasses" which, thematically, has a very subjective focus. It centers on the impact of family and the specific events that make up a life. I think all of these themes tie together.
If you had to characterize your style, or your approach to writing, what would you say about it?
I have a bit of a problem with this question. I don't really want to say, or rather, categorize what my style is. You can end up being pigeon-holed. "Oh, she writes this..., she writes that.. " When I was writing music and would meet with a record producer the first question would be "So, what type of music do you write? " I don't like to categorize it - it's all in how you intone it. Using music as an example, if you say it loud, it's rock, if you say it plain, it's folk, if you make it dance, it's R&B. You put your own meaning on it.
How does the writing in this book differ from other things you have published?
Well the only thing I have to compare it to is songwriting. Previously I was writing music. This is actually my first book, though it's been ten years in the making.
Poetry differs from writing music for me, in the sense that poetry allows me to explore that inner being which demands meaning from experience. Poetry is a way for me to assimilate what happens in the world, and this, I hoped, would lead to illumination.
When did you become serious about your writing?
I started writing when I was thirteen, or fourteen - I took myself very seriously, of course. I remember foolishly discounting anyone who didn't hang on every word I'd written. It was all so meaningful.
What importance does writing take in your life now?
The writing is the foremost thing. Everything, interactions with the kids, making dinner, etc. it's all a means of getting back to the process.
Why poetry? Why not novel writing or film-making?
As with most poets I think that you don't choose poetry, it chooses you. I've tried writing short stories, but they come out sounding like long poems, so I think, what's the point, and I come back to the poetry. Poetry is rich and compact.and rhythmic. I can read 10 novels and forget every one of them. But I can recall those few lines from a single poem I read twenty years ago that really effected me. Those lines come back to me like a catechism. I just don't find that in any other genre.
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