green.

 “green.,” by Zachari Logan is a book of poetry that could be placed on a coffee table for readers to pick up and flip through. With the sage green front and back covers, and wedge of hand-drawn illustrations by the author filling the middle of the text, “green.,” is a filigree of fecundity, a visual art piece accompanied by poetry. I read the volume this way, absorbing a poem a piece, while dividing the volume and taking in one illustration each time. 

Published by Radiant Press in 2024, “green.,” is visually infused with a collective of confessional poetry that will take the reader on a journey. Logan carried a sketchbook throughout his global travels and explored throughout these drawings iconic artwork, timeless architecture, landscapes, flora and fauna and a deep respect for nature. 

Zachari Logan is a queer Canadian settler poet and artist whose work has been exhibited across North America, Europe, and Asia. His artwork is held in collections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Remai Modern, the Peabody Essex Museum, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and Nerman MOCA, among others. In 2014, Logan received the Lieutenant Governor’s Emerging Artist Award, followed by the Alumni of Influence Award from the University of Saskatchewan in 2015, and in 2016 he was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award. His chapbook, "A Eulogy for the Buoyant," was published by JackPine Press in 2010, and his poetry collection, "A Natural History of Unnatural Things," was released by Radiant Press in 2021. Logan’s artwork and writing have been featured in numerous publications internationally. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Following the text and sketches of the collection, Logan describes finding a green sketchbook that takes on the very essence of the combined artwork of “green..” “I found this small sketchbook in Venice, Italy, on April 21st  2019 at the gift shop of the beautiful Fondazione Querini Stampalia.” He continues, “I bought two green ink pens and the journey began as I sat outside in the Museum gardens drawing. I’ve carried this small visual diary with me ever since.” Logan’s sketches are not complementary to the text, but an extension of it. “The thingness of a book, its tangible, aesthetic qualities interest me greatly, maybe too much.” Logan confides in the essence of the reading experience. Thompson writes with art, “Notes on Caravaggio,” “Sofia,” “El Greco,” “Tom Thomson, the Dream,” “The Unicorn Tapestries,” “Hilma”, each poem taking the reader’s hand and guiding them into a museum of viewing. “At some point, I’m not sure when, it became inseparable from the collection of writing it now shares these pages with.” It is apparent that “green.,” is two pieces of art, intermixed and extending beyond each other. 

One reviewer notes that “Green is immediate, it’s happening as you’re reading it. It is not an artifact or a manifesto, it is a living artwork of various forms, expressions, and tensions. It requires the reader to participate and bring their own life materials to the page.” Together, this immediacy invites the reader into an active, shared making of meaning, where the work continues to live and change through each act of reading.

“green.” evokes lushness, young shoots or a season turning over. A new soul, green, before ripening and turning brown. Thompson writes through a series of emotions, fury even and quiet defiance. He wants us to pay attention, as much as he wants us to fall away from ourselves. 

Thank you Zachari Logan, Radiant Press and River Street Writing for a complimentary copy in request for an honest review.