Seed Catalogue is an autobiographical long poem by Canadian prairie poet Robert Kroetsch, This new limited edition is illustrated with wood engravings by Jim Westergard.
First published in the 1970s, Seed Catalogue is the seminal work of poetry that first gave voice to the long root in Prairie writings of the metaphor of the seed catalogue. The poem explores the actual world of history transformed into the mythical world of poetry, where what we remember about the past may be more real than history tells us.
Robert Kroetsch was born and raised on a homestead near Heisler, Alberta, studied at the Universities of Alberta and Iowa, and taught literature and creative writing at the State University of New York and the University of Manitoba. During his long career he has authored more than twenty books of poetry, fiction and essays, including The Studhorse Man (Govenor General's Award 1969), The Stone Hammer Poems, Seed Catalogue, The Sad Phoenician, Field Notes, Badlands and The Words of My Roaring.