Dream

Boyd Holmes is an editor with Dundurn Press.

Dream is a collection of short stories by David Poulsen, whose previous
work includes a trilogy of children’s novels, The Cowboy Kid, Ride for
the Crown, and Ride for the High Country. These pieces have not appeared
before, although one, “The Welcomin’,” won first prize in the
Alberta culture provincial short story contest.

Dream begins with a foreword that foreshadows the book’s tone and
level of sophistication: “The stories in this collection are about
Canadians, God love ’em. They are about Western Canadians: farmers,
cowboys, soldiers, hockey players, lovers and children. . . . I have
never met Mark Messier, or Jackie Parker, or Peter Gzowski or Santa
Claus. But I believe in them all. I’m not as certain of Ralph the Dog.

“Some of the stories reflect the way I see things to be. Others are
about the way I might prefer them to be if I had a say in the matter.
And, I suppose, most of all, they are about the way people are to one
another.”

It would be a waste to elaborate on Poulsen’s style. He displays
little literary talent.