REVIEW OF THE LIMESTONE GHAZALS

excerpt from "Angels and the land" by Catherine MacLeod

Hippies used to call it earth art. Environmentalists, horticulturalists and artists today call it "site-specific art." Markdale-based poet Liz Zetlin, who brought me up-to-date on this language shift, is the site-specific artist who creates fabulous ornamental gourds -- gracefully and enigmatically inscribed with names like "Sigh" and "Joy." Zetlin has planted tulips that bloom into the shape of a tai chi move and hundreds of garlic cloves that matured into a word. Another Zetlin original is Punctuation Field, a meadow she mowed into commas and parentheses, including the @ symbol which is now integral to the identities and locations of all of us who use electronic mail. Her latest is a DVD called Limestone Ghazals, a lyrical and filmic geological reflection on the landscape. Ghazals are a traditional Persian poetic form composed of a series short rhyming couplets. Set to music, Ghazals are associated with the ancient mystic poet Hafiz whose works continues to be read for both its reverence for life and for the eternal. Honouring regional geology with this homage to Hafiz, Liz has applied the newest technology to present a simple, lyrical, and deeply heartfelt composition. Her electronic page and canvas is as large as the land itself.

- Catherine MacLeod is a Kincardine-based poet and the 2004 recipient of the Grey-Bruce Woman of Distinction Award.

Elizabeth Zetlin's works copyright © to the author.