the weight of dew - Daniela Elza (Mother Tongue)

In the weight of dew, Daniela Elza’s remarkably elegant debut book of poetry, we are taken on a literal, metaphorical and philosophical journey from the city, inland through (mostly) British Columbia. In the miles and meditations Elza’s poems travel light, with the ‘shape of me nameless’. the weight of dew settles around us, after the long journey of contemplation.

These poems are delicate, condensed, crystallized, yet paradoxically spacious, not only visually but philosophically. They gently ask questions about our existence. Use language to investigate belief. Use metaphor to awaken consciousness. Beautifully transforming us and herself through the alphabet of her knowing.

"These poems are like the sculpted mindscapes of the Zen garden: evocative, resonant, and serene. They are also delightfully complex, as if the poet with the rake has a sense of humour, is part Zen master, part Trickster, demonstrating with a wink how the wondrously simple and the eminently elaborate reside inside each other." –Aislinn Hunter

"There is a sweet music and the sensuality of careful attention in Daniela Elza's work, the sort of things by which the world recovers its proper gravity." –Tim Lilburn

An interesting interview with excerpts is online at Rob Taylor's blog:  part1 (with "crumbling into harmony") + part 2 (with "past Hope"). A quote: "There was a kind of control and at the same time a letting go. A kind of freeing myself and the reader to experience the fluidity of the words as they meta-morph through the different rooms of our beings." - Daniela Elza

Daniela Elza has lived on three continents and crossed numerous geographic, cultural and semantic borders. Her work has been published in more than fifty literary and peer-reviewed publications and to date she has released more than 200 poems into the wor(l)d. In 2011 Daniela received her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Simon Fraser University and launched her first e-Book, The Book of It (now also available in print).
About Mother Tongue Publishing
Mother Tongue Publishing is dedicated to publishing unique, bold and stimulating books of British Columbia art history, fine art and literature. The Unheralded Artists of BC, their new series, is dedicated to recognizing 20th century B.C. artists and igniting an overdue discourse on their artistic and historic significance.

Daniela Elza: the weight of dew (Mother Tongue Publications, 2012)
Poetry collection, 112 pages, introduction by Aislinn Hunter

ISBN 978-1-896949-21-5

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