Thursdays’ mentor John Asfour on CBC

This morning John Asfour spent half an hour on CBC radio’s Sunday Edition discussing his fifth book of poetry, “Blindfold.” John guest edited our second chapbook when he was here in Vancouver as the Inaugural Writer in Residence at Historic Joy Kogawa house. Since then he has stayed in touch with us, following our successes and examinations of the writing craft. John is the coeditor of the anthology V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2012) with Elee Kraljii Gardiner, a book that features writing from many Thursdays writers.

What is fascinating about Blindfold, John’s first book to deal with being blinded by a grenade in Lebanon as a 13 year old, is the narrative voice’s lack of self-consciousness. John relates the idea of being an immigrant in Canada to that of being a citizen of “the nation of the blind,” for that is what the sighted thrust upon the blind at every turn, the reminder of never quite belonging.

Blindfold (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011) is a stunning work of honesty and beautifully crafted lines.