Performance Poems

William Blackburn is a professor of English at the University of
Calgary.

There are two kinds of people who should sit down with this book: those
who like poetry, and those who do not. The former, accustomed to the
wit, insight, and learning (worn lightly and with love) that Reaney
brings to his work, will find much to relish in this collection. The
latter, usually victims of the way poetry is done to the defenceless
young in our public schools, should find even more to be grateful for.

Of the pieces in this collection (performance poems written since
One-Man Masque [1960], and incorporating some material from earlier work
like The Donnellys) the author says: “They can be read silently, they
can be read aloud, they can be scored for many voices along with all
sorts of illustration, and commentary from mime, dance, musique
concrete, manipulation of props and body movement . . . as a way of
giving groups of people an experience of poetry’s power to reach out
and focus an audience that may have long forgotten how nursery rhymes
and street games stir up the soul with the joy of unifying so many of
the senses, so many of your friend-circle.”

Reaney consistently demonstrates this power here, and he does so using
a variety of unlikely sources, making poetry even out of politics—and
Canadian politics at that! (As a Montrealer eating the beef of exile in
Alberta, I couldn’t repress a chuckle over “Here comes the new
Alberta premier, Don Getty / striding over the snows like a handsome
Yeti”). Not all the poems are political, but like much good writing
they have a strong element of the subversive, conveying the author’s
fondness for what he calls “cultural guerillas.” Some poems, like
“November: Images of War and Peace,” can only be described as
brilliant (“Let us not sing / For the State the songs of the
people”), but even the lighter pieces reflect the author’s
conviction that “We need a new ABC, and new numbers” if we are to
avoid becoming a nation whose national anthem should be “The Song of
the Styrofoam Cup.” As Reaney says in one of his poems, “I live
allegro.” It is not too much to claim that Performance Poems is a
collection that can help all of us do just that. En avant la musique!