A Toast to Baldy Red: Back Porch Ballads and Parlour Poems

Elizabeth St. Jacques is a writer and poet living in Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario.

Holt and Lyon sifted through thousands of poems before selecting these
76, which span the late 1800s to the present day. Forty-six poets share
their joy, humor, anger, and frustration concerning everyday life in
Alberta. For the most part, it makes for a lively read.

The number of subjects is staggering: surviving the Great Depression;
the never-ending hardships of farmers, cowboys, and their horses; the
dinosaurs and mastodons of Drumheller; as well as Chinook winds,
politics, early radio, the coal mines, oil fields, booze, death,
violence, and everything in between. These are largely the voices of
common, hard-working citizens, who tell it like they see it, even to the
extent of “borrowing” from well-known poems or songs.

As might be expected, many poems lack correct meter and rhyme, but this
makes some of them all the more endearing. And writing styles become
evident, sometimes to the point of amusement. For example, Patrick J.
O’Toole (who openly expresses his racist attitudes) tiptoes around
curse words: “Where it’s ten degrees hotter than h——l”
(emphasis added).

Of special interest is the editors’ lengthy and informative
introduction (which provides valuable insight as to their choice of
poems, as well as some regional history), and the notes, brief
biographies, and bibliography sections at the end of the book—worth
the price alone. A rollicking read to chase away the blues.