The Illustrated Statue of Liberty

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Even if Bruce Rice were Canada’s worst poet, this book might still be
eligible for an award, due to Duncan Campbell’s cover design and Marc
Veilleux Imprimateur’s production values. Fortunately, Rice offers
work that stands on its own merits.

Despite the fact that the author’s grandfather, John, immigrated to
the United States as a child, his chosen title is a surprise.
Anti-Americanism is currently so pervasive in Canadian culture that
Toronto’s JACK FM employs anti-U.S. stereotypes in order to promote
Manhattan developer Donald Trump’s syndicated radio feature.
Fortunately, the opening of Pier 21, Halifax’s equivalent of New York
City’s Ellis Island, reminds readers of our common heritage because
the two nations were shaped by immigration.

Rich honours the past with history, not hoopla. He spares readers the
literary equivalent of the embarrassing 1986 Statue of Liberty
centennial gala, in which Elvis impersonators cavorted with
“Jazzercise” dancers.

The poet traces the origins of anti-immigrant prejudices in “Ellis
Island 1900.” The phrase “We come WITH-OUT papers. WOP” evokes a
hated anti-Italian slur. Customs agents’ pictorial codes and
anti-Semitism are linked with the observation “Kike. A circle of chalk
on a shirt. THIS WAY JEW. UP THOSE STAIRS. / This is the way History
begins.” Americanization was not an easy process.

“In the Heyday of Mental Health” commemorates 1960s ideology.
Although psychedelics and anti-psychiatrists were celebrated, that
era’s real contribution was the concept of “community psychiatry,”
which substituted local treatment centres for traditional asylums.
Unfortunately, such new institutions did not open. Readers discover a
hard truth: people do not care to interact with the mentally impaired
and are content to warehouse them in distant places.

This book offers sober commentary on historical events and contemporary
issues.