IN THIS THIN RAIN - NELSON BALL

In This Thin Rain by Nelson Ball is a compilation of carefully wrought poems that are as precise as they are beautiful.  Ball's reverence for the natural world resonates throughout this book.  Nothing escapes the author's gaze, from the tiniest centipede to billowing snowdrifts.  I must confess that for a number of years I avoided reading nature poetry altogether. When I was in my twenties, it was repeatedly drummed in to me that all Canadian poetry must automatically be about rocks, trees or babies.  Weary of that chestnut being trotted out ad nauseum whenever the subject of poetry came up, I developed an aversion to any poem about wilderness and the natural world. In This Thin Rain proves no subject matter should be verboten for a writer (or for the reader).  I am duly chastened for my shortsighted and childish preconceptions.  I'll read nature poetry galore if written like this - elegant and ranging in tone from wistful and slightly melancholy to whimsical.  The poems of Nelson Ball are devoid of any sort of poetry cliche.  These poems have a crystalline clarity to them and a divine simplicity.

 

 In an age where many of us have become curators of our lives (via social media) rather than participants, it is inspiring to see such scrupulous observation of the natural world.   The banal is transformed into the miraculous.  In This Thin Rain reveals a writer who is fully present. You won't find a single superfluous word anywhere in this slim volume. No object or creature is too ordinary to be overlooked. This is writing pared down to its absolute essence.  Aspiring poets would do well to study In This Thin Rain to learn how to condense imagery.  You can get a lot of emotional heft from a few words, meticulously placed.  Stark can be striking.

 

I don't know how I managed to get this far without ever delighting in the unique poetry of Nelson Ball.  In This Thin Rain is published by Mansfield Press.  

SPECIAL COOKBOOK

As much as I enjoy dining out I love home cooking with equal fervor.  Autumn conjures up images of cozy afternoons and delicious aromas emanating from oven or stove top.  As the leaves turn and the air cools I look to cookbooks for inspiration and comfort.

I would be remiss not to mention Victoria chef Mary Patterson's "Special Cookbook" which is chock full of drool worthy recipes.  The book contains sumptuous reproductions of still life paintings by artist Shawn Shepherd making it a feast for both eyes and soul.  Mary has deftly categorized the cookbook by ingredient, showcasing and transforming each into something marvelous.  My mouth waters over recipes such as golden cream and apple tart, carrots and lentils with smoked bacon, beet and tangerine salad, bbq duck and sweet chili pizza, pan roasted chicken with avocado and papaya and many more.

This book is the very definition of creative soul food.  If you are  an armchair cook you'll enjoy the clever anecodotes about each featured ingredient i.e. find out why Welsh soldiers carried leeks in their helmets or learn about the unique communication style of herring (hint: acronym FRT). 

We are very fortunate to have a bevy of talented cooks and chefs residing on Vancouver Island.  Special Cookbook gives you a chance to replicate some of the bounty at home.  Mary's recipes are meticulously laid out and easy to follow.  This book will appeal to both seasoned home cooks and kitchen novices alike.  

Special Cookbook is available at The Market on Yates and Polychrome Fine Arts.  This is an irresistible cookbook you will turn to again and again.  It would make a splendid gift for any enthusiastic home cook.

PERSEPOLIS

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel of growing up in Iran grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go.  The memoir has more recently been adapted into a feature length animated motion picture.  Satrapi tells the story of her life from age six to early adulthood, commencing with the overthrow of the Shaw of Iran, the Islamic revolution that followed, the war with Iraq and Satrapi's subsequent European exile from her home and family.  Despite the harrowing subject matter this story radiates warmth throughout and the author digs out offbeat humor whenever she can.

Satrapi achieves the delicate balancing act of being both intimate, as an autobiography should be and panoramic in scope in dealing with the ways peoples' lives can irrevocably change when governments subvert their beliefs.  Childhood and adolescence are fraught with universal desires that have little to do with government decrees.  Throughout her book Marjane remains resolutely human.  She is anything but a rote comic book heroine.  She is not always wise, she is often off track and that makes her all the more recognizable.  This is what makes Persepolis such an infectious read and it is not surprise the book has already proven popular with adolescent girls throughout the world.

The images in both film and graphic novel are rendered in black and white punctuated with various shades of grey.  They are stark, elegant and consistently involving.  There are cheeky pop culture references throughout the book and film.  In the film's score there are playful off-key renditions of "Eye of the Tiger" and the theme from Rocky.  Young Marjane loves Bruce Lee, Nikes, and Iron Maiden.  Through her childhood and difficult adolescence, she grapples with horrors few westerners could comprehend.  As much of the novel is told from a child's partly comprehending point of view, reactions to such strictures as the veil are often visceral and this proves an effective means of what went wrong in those years.  It also compellingly conveys how a child's sense of injustice can evolve into an adult sensibility.  

Reading Persepolis, one is made aware of many Iranians who don't embrace the restrictions they are made to live under, particularly the women.  Yet the book never tries to be an Iranian history lesson, the author is more concerned with how people try to live ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances.  Satrapi's strong family ties are conveyed warmly.  She is close to her secular leftist parents who campaign ceaselessly for change and find their relatives tortured and imprisoned.  She is even closer to her witty and pragmatic grandmother.

Persepolis should bridge the gap between those who read graphic novels and those who do not.   It is also a resonant, universal coming of age tale with a heroine who is smart, loveable, deliciously funny and full of gumption.  In the face of geopolitical upheaval Persepolis is unfailingly, robustly alive.  This sturdily poetic novel full of difficult questions and uneasy answers.   Persepolis renders in black and white a world that never is.

HARD HED

Hard Hed – The Hoosier Chapman Papers -A Review

Charles Tidler’s Hard Hed, a retelling of the Johnny Appleseed story, deftly moves back and forth through time, from the early nineteenth century right through to modern times.  It is a novel in five books.  Each book is unique in style and tone and together these individual sections form a compelling whole.  

Book one is a soldier’s diary of the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.   Accounts of hunting, fishing, daily allocation of rations and weather reports are punctuated with scenes of murder and ambush. Tidler’s contrasting of mundane daily ritual with violent skirmish heightens the sense of horror at a genocidal campaign that forced many surviving Native Americans out of the Indiana territories. Tidler has a gift for inventing details that feel authentic and immediate. In this respect he commands his readers’ attention as few fiction writers can. 

In book two we move to a contemporary setting. We are introduced to Hoosier Chapman, descendant of Johnny Appleseed, distant relative to the homicidal General Linkhorn introduced in book one.  Tidler’s mastery of prose is evinced in descriptions of the Indiana landscape i.e. “Red barn.  White farmhouse.  Rectangle of freshly mown sunshine.”   Hoosier with “mouth and lips a rainy branch of apple tree blossoms” has just been released from prison for planting apple trees illegally.  Traveling by bus through Indiana, the affable Hoosier meets beautiful university student Nancy Miami who declares herself “100% Indian, according to my daddy”.  A romance ensues.  The bus is torn apart by a tornado.  Hoosier survives in the first of a series of narrow escapes.  Nancy is later murdered.  In this section of the book there are thrilling shifts from realism to fantasy.  Tidler makes sublime transitions from scenes of sordid violence to scenes of sensuality and tenderness.  This is muscular erotic prose, brimming with vitality. 

The novel shifts back in time again to the Indian wars and the evolution of the Klu Klux Klan. We are introduced to Xerxes Chapman, purported cousin of John Applejack.  Xerxes lives off the land.  In book three, a sharp contrast is drawn between the Native Americans’ and Xerxes Chapman’s reverence for the natural world and General Linkhorn’s vicious campaign of wonton destruction and brutality. Yet In the face of this hard-edged subject matter there is sheer poetry.   Rarely is prose simultaneously so visceral, yet beautiful.   Book four shifts back to a modern setting. Cruelty towards ethnic minorities persists.  Hoosier Chapman who plants apple trees is also seen as a pariah.

The language in Hard Hed is poetic yet concise. Each sentence is exquisitely, meticulously crafted.  Tidler evokes his Midwestern roots with vivid descriptions of the Indiana landscape and the people who populate it.  The final book depicts a rebirth, a fitting metaphor for Johnny Appleseed. Hard Hed is an inventive, exciting novel that warrants multiple readings. 

SYMPATHY LOOPHOLE

Jaime Forsythe's debut poetry collection, Sympathy Loophole (Mansfield Press) is a remarkable read.   Within this slim volume, meditation on family, loss and mourning co-exist alongside a ventriloquist dummy, a shark in a jar, and a man in a gorilla suit . Jesus appears in a bowl of cling peaches.   I knew right away this was going to be interesting!

Each poem is meticulously crafted.  "In Shark in a Jar" the shark is described thus: "his smile a slit throat". Sympathy Loophole manages to be many things; at times the tone is dark and menacing at other times it is profoundly moving or sublimely hilarious.  The author adroitly covers a wide range of subjects and characters, moods and styles.  Poems are spare but redolent with evocative and playful imagery.

These deliciously surreal inventive poems deserve to be savoured.  I hope to see more from this poet in the future.  In the meantime I will just have to read and delight (over and over again) in Sympathy Loophole! 

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