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Archive of the Undressed
From twirling tassels to dead playmates Archive of the Undressed is a sharp, darkly comic look at the image of women in a society between changing sexual mores. Jeanette Lynes brings her iconic style to these poems, fearlessly critiquing attitudes towards women, poking at Canadian identity and finding something sexy in the settlement of "The Queen's Bush," Northern Ontario. A wickedly pointed and funny collection, Archive of the Undressed will overturn any reader's belief that poetry is boring.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
18 people want to read
About the author
Jeanette Lynes
15 books54 followersJeanette Lynes is an award-winning author and has published half a dozen collections of her poetry, as well as both appearing in and editing several anthologies. The Factory Voice is her first published work of fiction.
She has served in writer-in-residence positions in Saskatoon and Dawson Creek, BC. She holds a Ph.D in English from York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine.
Jeanette spent six years working in Thunder Bay before taking her current position as an English professor at St. Francis Xavier University where she is the campus newspaper editor.
She currently lives in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
From the author:
I've always loved to write. When I was growing up on a farm in Ontario, I made newspapers of local goings-on in the community: for example, 'Mrs. MacTavish Gets Smashing New Easter Bonnet'. I drew the boxes around the little stories and everything, just like a real newspaper.
When I was in high school, I worked in a factory one summer; I've written about this in a poem called "Hairnets and Giblets," from my first book of poetry. My factory experience was brief but made a deep impression on me, especially the various loyalties and allegiances within the workplace, and how a factory becomes a kind of micro-world unto itself.
I've always been fascinated by how people interact with each other and a fiction project like The Factory Voice allowed me the space to explore this fascination.
When I lived in Thunder Bay during the 1990s, I was involved in an project based on Canadian Car and Foundry, the factory in former-day Fort William, that made war planes. The project involved interviewing ladies who had worked on the line during the war. Their stories never left me, and around 2001, I began to imagine their lives in the aviation plant, and thus began The Factory Voice.
She has served in writer-in-residence positions in Saskatoon and Dawson Creek, BC. She holds a Ph.D in English from York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine.
Jeanette spent six years working in Thunder Bay before taking her current position as an English professor at St. Francis Xavier University where she is the campus newspaper editor.
She currently lives in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
From the author:
I've always loved to write. When I was growing up on a farm in Ontario, I made newspapers of local goings-on in the community: for example, 'Mrs. MacTavish Gets Smashing New Easter Bonnet'. I drew the boxes around the little stories and everything, just like a real newspaper.
When I was in high school, I worked in a factory one summer; I've written about this in a poem called "Hairnets and Giblets," from my first book of poetry. My factory experience was brief but made a deep impression on me, especially the various loyalties and allegiances within the workplace, and how a factory becomes a kind of micro-world unto itself.
I've always been fascinated by how people interact with each other and a fiction project like The Factory Voice allowed me the space to explore this fascination.
When I lived in Thunder Bay during the 1990s, I was involved in an project based on Canadian Car and Foundry, the factory in former-day Fort William, that made war planes. The project involved interviewing ladies who had worked on the line during the war. Their stories never left me, and around 2001, I began to imagine their lives in the aviation plant, and thus began The Factory Voice.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 29, 2013
This book of poetry (wait, don't run away, you'll like this) is sexy, sassy, political, heartbreaking, feminist and funny. Lynes also works in a little burlesque theory of CanLit for all of us CanLit geeks. Called "the Tina Fey of Canadian poetry," Lynes is also an astute observer of sexual politics and when she reads a stack of vintage Playboys in this book, you will want to know what she thinks.
January 29, 2022
The old grey mare ain't who she used to be -
surprised it all devolves to elegy,
to body? Don't be, there's always a body,
missing or not. Lovely or less.
Historic. Histrionic. Hysterical.
Lost in space or not. Girlish. Ghoulish.
Shot to death and swarming by ants
or not. Either way, the world
wishes to view and will pay.
Disappointed, they'll request a refund.
It's a very exacting world
in the body department and never
over easy, always hard.
Waist knot, want knot.
Body is poultry, so many cartons of eggs.
Dairy. Milk. Mare. Mummy. Centre. Fold.
* * *
Dear Archivist Poet or Whoever You Purport to be: I am disappointed. I thought this book would be fun to read. You have a reputation for being quirky and humorous. But much of this is morbid reaching over to depressing.
Dear Reader: I am sorry for seducing your hopes or derailing your expectations but not that sorry and cannot assume full blame as poetry, whether stripped down or dressed as prose, cannot always be the opiate of the pupil.
I suggest you go bite my cottontail.
* * *
My bra sets off the alarm -
shocking bosom!
Love, you'd laugh at the serious
Official wandering my chest,
you know, my criminal holder,
limp and harmless
as an old basset hound,
a sports bra with metal grommets,
cross-tab for clipping on a pager
or song device, I suppose
though I'd hardly know -
the only jogger I've done
is to your gate.
I'm not secure -
When I arrive
unhook me,
toss the cotton hound
high - across the room.
surprised it all devolves to elegy,
to body? Don't be, there's always a body,
missing or not. Lovely or less.
Historic. Histrionic. Hysterical.
Lost in space or not. Girlish. Ghoulish.
Shot to death and swarming by ants
or not. Either way, the world
wishes to view and will pay.
Disappointed, they'll request a refund.
It's a very exacting world
in the body department and never
over easy, always hard.
Waist knot, want knot.
Body is poultry, so many cartons of eggs.
Dairy. Milk. Mare. Mummy. Centre. Fold.
- Untitled, pg. 12
* * *
Dear Archivist Poet or Whoever You Purport to be: I am disappointed. I thought this book would be fun to read. You have a reputation for being quirky and humorous. But much of this is morbid reaching over to depressing.
Dear Reader: I am sorry for seducing your hopes or derailing your expectations but not that sorry and cannot assume full blame as poetry, whether stripped down or dressed as prose, cannot always be the opiate of the pupil.
I suggest you go bite my cottontail.
- Letter from the Reader, pg. 33
* * *
My bra sets off the alarm -
shocking bosom!
Love, you'd laugh at the serious
Official wandering my chest,
you know, my criminal holder,
limp and harmless
as an old basset hound,
a sports bra with metal grommets,
cross-tab for clipping on a pager
or song device, I suppose
though I'd hardly know -
the only jogger I've done
is to your gate.
I'm not secure -
When I arrive
unhook me,
toss the cotton hound
high - across the room.
- Thinking of You During Security Screening at Calgary Airport, pg. 53
September 19, 2019
Solidly written, this is a clear voice, visual, observant, wry, and intellectual - but the book didn't really speak to me. Just a matter of personal taste. I did particularly enjoy "Untitled", "How to Read Playboy", "A Tale of 4-H", and "Bounce".
October 13, 2014
I am amazed how profound the observations in poetry can be these days. They seem to come across at times unhindered by politics and paradigms giving a deeply honest look at the human condition. One such collection is the Archive of the Undressed by Jeanette Lynes. Her thoughts and observations are collected here as she pondered a collection of vintage Playboy magazines, giving insight of not only the 1960s and 70s but our time today.
http://tinyurl.com/ntvfwea
http://tinyurl.com/ntvfwea
November 10, 2012
Hey, Everyone! Please check out my interview with Jeanette Lynes as we discuss her latest collection of poetry Archive of the Undressed (Wolsak and Wynn, 2012). Read it now on my TTQ Blog.
http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.c...
http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.c...
November 12, 2013
A fun little book of poetry! Great for getting out of yourself.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews