Bodily Presence

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
the author of No Greater Love.

Blaine Marchand’s poems are beautifully written in graceful and
lyrical language. He plays with words and phrases the way a balloon
artist changes his creations—now it is a dog, but make a few twists
and turns, and it becomes a clown. His work can be subtle and yet
completely accessible; at other times, it is arrestingly frank.

The collection describes his journey from a Catholic childhood into
adulthood, marriage, and fatherhood and on to recognition and
celebration of his homosexuality. He describes his First Communion in
astonishingly clear images; he takes us through his father’s illness,
his mother’s worrying about caring for eight children. We grieve with
him as his wife dies a slow and painful death (though this is a small
part of the book, a complete collection having already been devoted to
that topic). Small, everyday happenings are colored by all these
experiences. In the latter part of the book are some graphic
descriptions of homosexual lovemaking.

Bodily Presence is powerful, surprisingly elegant, and extremely
moving. Everything is interwoven, making this collection an intriguing
and satisfying read.