BC poet David Zieroth’s creative journey, still unfolding after more than fifty years, comes into brilliant focus in this revelatory retrospective. Gathered with meticulous care and arranged chronologically, this vital collection reflects the unique voice and ever-evolving style of Canadian poet David Zieroth over more than half a century of acclaimed work. From early meditations on his rural Prairie childhood to the moving consideration of family and history in the previously unpublished poem at the book’s end, Zieroth allows imagery rooted in daily life to guide him in unexpected directions, revealing moments that illuminate the otherwise hidden confluence of mind and world. As first here and then far shows, Zieroth’s curiosity-charged poems have always possessed a translucent directness. Motion and stillness meet, whether the view is from one of his many international voyages or simply from his North Vancouver balcony, as in the evocatively titled recent book watching for life. And his language has gathered momentum over the years, becoming more streamlined as it sheds convention and takes on a new lyricism. An essential document of a long and endlessly inventive life in words, first here and then far is a worthy testament to the energy and subtle insight of a poet who remains at the height of his powers.

Apart from Love is not your typical love story. All-consuming, heart-wrenching, and dark, it is an epic that starts when Ben returns to meet his father, Lenny, and his new wife, Anita. It is then that he discovers a family secret. How will they find a path out of conflicts, out of isolation, from guilt to forgiveness? My Own Voice (“As told by Anita”): Ten years ago, Anita started an affair with Lenny, in spite of knowing that he was married and that his wife was succumbing to a mysterious disease. Now married to him and carrying his child, how can she compete with Natasha’s shadow and with her brilliance in the past? Given Anita's lack of education, how can she resist his compelling wish to transform her? Can she survive his kind of love? Faced with the way he writes her as a character in his book, how can Anita find a voice of her own? And when his estranged son, Ben, comes back and lives in the same small apartment, can she keep the balance between the two men, whose desire for her is marred by guilt and blame? The White Piano (“As told by Ben”): Coming back to his childhood home after years of absence, Ben is unprepared for the secret, which is now revealed to him: his mother, Natasha, who used to be a brilliant pianist, is losing herself to early-onset Alzheimer’s, which turns the way her mind works into a riddle. His father has remarried, and his new wife, Anita, looks remarkably similar to Natasha—only much younger. In this state of being isolated, being apart from love, how will Ben react to these marital affairs, when it is so tempting to resort to blame and guilt? “In our family, forgiveness is something you pray for, something you yearn to receive—but so seldom do you give it to others.” Behind his father's back, Ben and Anita find themselves increasingly drawn to each other. They take turns using an old tape recorder to express their most intimate thoughts, not realizing at first that their voices are being captured by him. These tapes, with his eloquent speech and her slang, reveal the story from two opposite viewpoints. Dealing with the challenging prospects of the marriage of opposites, this book can be read as a standalone novel as well as part of one of family sagas best sellers. Still Life with Memories is a family saga series tinged with family saga romance, fraught with marital issues, and riddled with the difficulty of connecting fathers and sons.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Includes Transactions of affiliated societies.