Reservoir of Ancestors

Lydia Forssander-Song is a sessional instructor in the English
Department at Trinity Western University.

Keith Garebian is a widely published literary and theatre critic. He has
also written a biography and memoir. Reservoir of Ancestors is his first
volume of poetry. Displaying his wide-ranging interests in history, art,
literature, mass media, and culture, the collection is divided into
three sections. The first section, “Ancestors,” reveals a sense of
public history and personal heritage. The second section,
“Transfigurations,” reflects an interaction with literary and
cultural icons. The third section, “The Derek Jarman Poems,”
provides a response to the life and art of Derek Jarman.

The juxtaposition of love and death is the underlying theme of the
three sections. In “Ancestors,” the poem “Written on Waves”
recalls a “mother / who caresses / with an ever-forgiving love / who
leads us away / from landscape / full of insomnia / of the slain,”
while the poem “I Say His Love” explains, “Because my father lived
/sometimes by absences / I say his love was never whole.” In
“Transfigurations,” the poem “The Studio” observes, “At three
it’s over, / our lust flushed away. / You take a carcinogenic
cigarette / while I jeer like a demon lover. / At six, you’re back in
love again / with your house, children, and their meals. / We always end
not quite as we began.” In “The Derek Jarman Poems,” the poem
“Caravaggio IV” comments, “He paints his lovers as Saint John, /
the wild one in the wilderness. / He paints himself as Saint Francis /
contemplating death.”

Garebian employs a gritty yet lyrical tone in Reservoir of Ancestors.
Murder victims, mutilated bodies, bones, and skulls coexist with lovers,
naked bodies, flowers, and fruit. This notably elegiac collection of
poems demonstrates the author’s strong connection to the past and his
equally strong engagement with the present.