Don Gutteridge (1937- ) Don Gutteridge is the author of more than fifty-five books: poetry, fiction and scholarly works in educational theory and practice. He was born in Sarnia and raised in the nearby village of Point Edward. He has an Honours English degree from Western University. After graduation, he taught high school English for seven years before joining Western´s Faculty of Education. There he taught English methods for twenty-five years. In 1970 he won the President´s Medal for the best periodical poem of that year, "Death At Quebec." His poetry collection Coppermine was shortlisted in 1973 for the Governor General´s Award. To hear interviews with the poet, go to http://www. thereandthen.podbean.com. He is currently Professor Emeritus and lives in London, Ontario.

In Foster´s Pond Don Gutteridge sacralizes the past in memories of time and place through the writing of fine poems that honour life as it is lived by a man who has paid studied attention to important things. And from the village on the shores of his youth, in recollection he writes "the point of it all is the village" (Unsung). Later in this collection we read of "that voluptuous/ village of the mind that started/ it all" (Rhythms). He makes his landscape come to life, citing "gods of that holy demense" (Passage). This sacred locale may be a land of one´s own and thus be the private domain of an individual writer, however, it is through such celebrations of the particular that we discover the universal. Those of us who are blessed to live long lives might console ourselves "In poems and stories galore" (Muse) and we might hope for many more to come until, as Gutteridge opines "I try to imagine the day/ when I´ll write my last line" (Career). And Don Gutteridge comes to each reader bringing a hat full of rain and we are all nourished at the root.

After a devastating flood destroys Earthwood, Gavin, a young raccoon and Ra-in-waiting, finds himself marooned in a desolate landscape with his two brothers. They set out to find food and shelter, and in their early travels meet up with a number of other survivors. Danger lurks everywhere in the form of a Tallwalker with a gun, and they have a number of narrow escapes before they make a shocking discovery. Gavin, shy and bookish, is a reluctant leader, but he takes on the role and leads the group into Everdark, where they confront grotesquely deformed beasts and a band of giant Squeezels. Using all his wit and store of raccoon lore, Gavin leads his little troupe towards Earthwood, earning his spurs and the honorific, Gavin the Great.