POIESIS Catalogue

Amor fati: that shall henceforth be my love! I do not want to wage war against the ugly. I do not want to accuse — I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Let looking away be my only denial! And all in all and on the whole: I want someday to be purely and simply a Yes-sayer! -Nietzsche

After several issues dedicated to trauma, suffering and terror, POIESIS takes up Nietzsche’s call for a “Yea-saying” philosophy of life. How can we find joy and enjoyment in everyday life and in the arts? Can we get beyond the media-driven conception of happiness as endless consumption and reclaim a non-ideological attitude of affirmation towards existence? What would this mean for the critique of ideology? What implications would it have for therapeutic and social change? What would be an aesthetics of praise?

We hope that readers will be willing to risk the foolishness of affirmative thinking in the face of all catastrophe and join us in saying, “Yea!”

Click here to order a copy from Caversham Booksellers, our preferred bookseller.

$29.95 Cdn / $29.95 US
ISBN 14924986

For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us. -Rilke

So begins the Editor’s Introduction of the latest edition of POIESIS: the annual, cutting-edge source for new research from the fields of Expressive Arts Therapy and Media & Communication. As Rilke’s quote suggests, this beautiful new issue of the journal contains an extensive feature section on beauty and terror. This section also honours Shaun McNiff, one of the founders of the field of expressive arts therapy, on the event of his 60th birthday. In addition to this special and thought-provoking section, we are also proud to publish new works from Media & Communications — Pierre Aubenque, Christopher Fynsk and John Sallis — as well as poetry by Robert Bly and others. More than any other issue to date, POIESIS VIII spans geographic distance as well as time periods, exploring the art and nature of expression in places as far-reaching as Sierra Leone, Iraq, Jerusalem, Texas, and rural Canada, and from the Deep South of the 1800s to the Woodstock era to present times. Artwork appears in full colour.

Explore POIESIS VIII

Or click here! to email us.

$24.95 Cdn, $24.95 USD, shipping extra

$24.95 Cdn / $24.95 US

This issue has a new interior and exterior design and includes two sections. We begin with a special tribute to the late and legendary philosopher Jacques Derrida, with many evocative articles written by his close students, colleagues and friends. The second half of POIESIS VII is devoted to an exploration of the arts, community, and social change: mural-making with underprivileged Bronx youth, a fascinating account of Black Mountain College (an experimental liberal arts college in North Carolina), views on the entanglement of politics, ethics and aesthetics, and an interview with six members of the Toronto Playback Theatre Project. The articles are interspersed with the work of 19 exceptional poets and 13 visual artists whose work appears in full colour. A monumental and breathtakingly beautiful annual tribute to the expressive arts and communication.

Poets, writers, artists: Interested in contributing to POIESIS VIII, 2006: Beauty and Terror? Have a look at our Submissions Guidelines.

Training Institutes, Retreat Centres, Publishers: Advertising space is currently available in POIESIS VIII, 2006. We reach approximately 1,000 students and professionals working and studying in the fields of expressive arts, psychology, media and communications. Contact us for advertising specs.

Please follow the links below to view sample content of POIESIS VII.

Or click here

$19.95 Cdn, $19.95 USD, shipping extra

Click Here to explore POIESIS VII

$19.95 Cdn / $19.95 US
ISBN 2147483647

A Journal of the Arts & Communication

This special issue on trauma and the arts is entitled “Re-Imagining Trauma.” From psychoanalyst Michael Eigen to philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, exploring both intimately personal experience as well as wide theoretical perspectives, this sixth annual issue of POIESIS intelligently and critically looks at trauma and art-making from the varied perspectives of Expressive Arts Therapy and Media and Communication, as well as from their places of overlap. More poetry and artwork are in this issue than ever before, and we’ve made a jump to a 100% glossy interior!

$19.95 Cdn / $19.95 US
ISBN 14924986

A Journal of the Arts & Communication

This annual collection of cutting-edge research by international leaders in the fields of expressive arts therapy and communication is essential reading for students and professionals alike.

“POIESIS is leading the way in building communities of the creative imagination.”
—Shaun McNiff

$19.95 Cdn / $19.95 US
ISBN 14924986