Ör

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

Saskatoon-born poet Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen has a earned recognition
for all of her books. Clay Birds won the Saskatchewan Book Award for
Poetry in 1996. Цr (Old Norse for “arrow”) received an inaugural
John V. Hicks Manuscript Prize for Poetry in 2000. In 2005, her opus,
August: An Anniversary Suite, earned the CBC Literary Awards’ Second
Prize for Poetry.

The critical acclaim is misleading. When a writer is distinguished for
her “bloopers,” it is a bad omen. In “Milk Fever,” the phrase
“the cat milks me for memories” inspires images best appreciated by
demented souls. This quote proves that the author’s true peers are
U.S. comic pseudo-poets, such as Henry Gibson of Rowan & Martin’s
Laugh-In.

Klaassen uses the phrase “we soar,” a poem that tracks
passengers’ reaction to an airline landing. Since the word “soar”
is associated with an airplane’s ascent, one wonders if the poet knows
what she is doing.

These errors lead the reader to assume incompetence where none exists.
In the poem “Trains,” readers may be jarred by the phrase “heading
for Heathrow” because they know that this is the name of London’s
major international airport. Fortunately for Klaassen, this hub is also
served by British Rail and the London Underground.

“Gravity” honours bears, but overwhelms with its ursine imagery. Is
the author paying homage to author Galway Kinnell, who wrote the
acclaimed poem “The Bear”? Instead, she evokes Yogi, the cartoon
icon.

Most of Klaassen’s verses are intricate, but undistinguished. If
there were no major errors, there would be nothing of interest.