Colin Morton (born 1948) is a Canadian poet.
Personal life
Morton was born in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, but grew up in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
, Alberta and has worked as a teacher and editor.
His poetry and fiction have appeared in ''Descant'', ''The Fiddlehead'', ''Arc'', ''Grain'', ''The Malahat Review'', ''Ascent'', and ''The North American Review'' among many other publications. He was a member of the performance group ''First Draft'' which recorded, published, and performed some 40 times across Canada in the 1980s. More recently, his poetry has explored aspects of world history.
In 1986 and again in 2001 he won the
Archibald Lampman Award for poetry. His book of poetry ''The Merzbook'' was inspired by the life and work of
Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937.
Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...
, and was the basis for a dramatic production, ''The Cabbage of Paradise''. The sound-poem, ''Primiti Too Taa'', based on Schwitters' ''Ursonate (Sonata in primitive sounds)'', was made into an animated short film by Ed Ackerman, featuring Morton's voice and a
stop-motion
Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...
animation of moving letters, made using a typewriter. It received several awards, including a Bronze Apple.
His book ''The Hundred Cuts: Sitting Bull and the Major'' is a poetic documentary about the exile in Canada of Lakota chief Sitting Bull, and his relationship with Major James Walsh of the NWMP.
He lives in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Ontario.
Selected bibliography
*
*
*''In Transit'' (1981), http://capa.conncoll.edu/morton.tran.htm
*''This Won't Last Forever'' (1985), http://capa.conncoll.edu/morton.last.htm
*''The Merzbook: Kurt Schwitters Poems'' (1987), http://capa.conncoll.edu/morton.merzbook.html
*''How to Be Born Again'' (1982),
*''Oceans Apart'' (1995), (novel)
*''Coastlines of the Archipelago'' (2000),
*''Dance, Misery'' (2003),
*''The Cabbage of Paradise'' (2007),
*''The Local Cluster'' (2008),
*''The Hundred Cuts: Sitting Bull and the Major'' (2009),
*''Winds and Strings'' (2013),
Edited
*''The Scream: First Draft, the third annual group show'' Ouroboros (1984),
*
References
External links
Poetry and fiction by Colin Morton*https://web.archive.org/web/20091007230844/http://www.poets.ca/linktext/direct/morton.htm
*http://library.stmarytx.edu/pgpress/authors/colin_morton/index.html
1948 births
Living people
20th-century Canadian poets
Canadian male poets
Poets from Calgary
Poets from Ottawa
Poets from Toronto
20th-century Canadian male writers
{{Canada-poet-stub