J.S. Porter

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Born in Belfast and educated in Canada, J.S. Porter is a passionate and omnivorous reader. An accomplished poet, critic and teacher, his poems, articles, reviews and essays have appeared in Grail, The Antigonish Review, Quarry, Brick,
The Hamilton Spectator, The Ottawa Citizen, The National Post, The
Globe and Mail and the Literary Review of Canada. He currently teaches literature at Mohawk College in Hamilton. This is his official website.

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LITERARY C/V - J.S. Porter, poet, essayist & critic

4 Emming Court
Hamilton, ON
L9C 4A2 CANADA
Tel: (905)574-5208.

Books

2001

Spirit Book Word: An Inquiry into Literature & Spirituality, Novalis

  • Reviewed in The Globe and Mail; The Ottawa Citizen; The Toronto Star (see more
  • Words from Spirit Book Word performed by the Talisker Players Chamber
  • Music at St. Paul's Trinity United Church in Toronto, November 5, 2002

1988

The Thomas Merton Poems, Moonstone Press

  • Reviewed in The University of Toronto Quarterly; The Merton Seasonal; Journal of Canadian Poetry

Journals & Newspapers (two samples from each periodical)

Literary Review of Canada (4 articles in total)

2004

Mirror Images

  • A review of With Borges and Stevenson under the Palm Trees by Alberto Manguel

2003

Requiem for a Suicidal Genius

  • A review of HA! A Self-Murder Mystery, written and directed by Gordon Sheppard

The Globe and Mail (10 articles in total)

2004
(October 2)

Atwood right on target

  • A review of Moving Targets: Writing with Intent 1982-2004

2002
(March 23)

Atwood, light and dark

  • A review of Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing

National Post

2001
(May 26)

A mysterious, well-constructed, open-ended poetic novel

  • A review of Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill

2001
(May 12)

Culinary Crips and Bloods heat up Vancouver kitchens

  • A review of Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor

Ottawa Citizen (10 reviews in total)

2001
(December 23)

A fearless mind: Susan Sontag challenges the world with her pen

  • A review of Where the Stress Falls by Susan Sontag

2000
(April 2)

A masterful eclecticism: George Grant's collected works start to emerge

  • A review of George Grant's Collected Works of George Grant, Vol. 1

Hamilton Spectator (40+ articles in total)

2001
(August 9)

Ghost Dog lives by the code

  • A film review of Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog

2000
(July 20)

A Satisfying Image

  • A film discussion of Luc Bresson's The Professional

Other Publications (a sample)

  • The Re-Enchantment of the Word (+ 4 other articles in Brick)
    Brick, Summer '94
    Republished in Poetry Ireland Review, Autumn/Winter 1995
  • Letter to Brodsky (+ 1 other article in Quarry)
    Quarry, v 43 n 3 '94
  • Notes on Emily Dickinson's Terrible Simplicity (+ 5 other articles in The Antigonish Review)
    The Antigonish Review, Spring '96
  • A Conversation with Dennis Lee (+ 1 poem in The New Quarterly)
    The New Quarterly, Summer '94
  • Words I (poem)
    Canadian Literature, No. 110, Fall '86
  • Living by Carver
    Asylum (Ireland), Issue 3, '97.
  • Untitled (poem)
    Kentucky Poetry Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, Fall '88

Quoted or Referenced In

  • Athens and Jerusalem: George Grant's Theology, Philosophy, and Politics. Edited by Ian Angus, Ron Dart, and Randy Peg Peters. (U of T, 2007)
  • Don McKay: Essays on His Works. Edited by Brian Bartlett. (Guernica, 2006)
  • Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten Among the Lilies
  • Ronald Rolheiser, Against An Infinite Horizon
  • Michael W. Higgins, Heretic Blood
  • Dennis Lee, Body Music
  • Marilyn Gear Pilling, The Field Next to Love
  • B.W. Powe, A Canada of Light
  • Tim Lilburn, editor, Poetry and Knowing
  • Robert Fulford, Accidental City
  • Monique Tschofen, editor, Kristjana Gunnars: Essays on Her Works

Writings on Thomas Merton

  • Thomas Merton as Public Intellectual, The Merton Seasonal 29.2 (Summer 2004): 16-24.
  • Rev. of Heretic Blood: The Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton by Michael Higgins, Antigonish Review 116 (Winter 1998): 53-58.
  • Piggybacking on Merton, The Merton Seasonal 23.2 (Summer 1998): 19-22.
  • Untitled (poem), Kentucky Poetry Review: Thomas Merton Memorial Issue 24.2 (fall 1998): 90.
  • Farewell to a Monk, The Antigonish Review 108 (Winter 1997): 59-68.
  • Silent Lamp: The Lives of Thomas Merton, Brick 55 (Fall 1996): 10-13.
  • Thomas Merton's Late Metaphors of the Self, The Merton Annual 7 (1994): 58-67.
  • Review of The Courage for Truth: The Letters of Thomas Merton to Writers, Selected and Edited by Dr. Christine H. Bochen, Grail 10.1/2 (1994): 191-195.
  • The Last Journals of Thomas Merton & Anais Nin, The Merton Annual 5 (1992): 279-295
  • Thomas Merton & Wendell Berry: A Brief Study in Tone, The Merton Seasonal 17.2 (Spring 1992): 12-15.

Art Criticism

  • Live Wood: Meditations on the Sculpture of Wayne Allan, Grail: An Ecumenical Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 2, June '87.
  • Notes on Wayne Allan's Sculpture, Grail, Vol. 10, Issue 4, Dec. '94
  • Contemplating Father Dan Donovan's Art Collection, Grail, Vol. 11, Issue 4, Dec. '95
  • Meditation on Stone (on Edward Gibney), Grail, Vol. 13, Issue 1, March '97.
  • Ted Rettig's Stones, Grail, Vol. 14, Issue 2, June '98.

Awards

  • The Catholic Press Journalism Award 1999
  • Second Place -- Best Review/Review Section (Ted Rettig's Stones, Grail

Juror

  • for the 2005 Drainie-Taylor Prize in Biography (autobiography& memoir)