A Northern Woman

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

Jacqueline Baldwin’s second collection of poems includes one story,
“The Pine Trees Singing,” and two “poem/essays” (her term for
pieces that blend the two genres), “It Is Anna Whom We Mourn” and
“Call the Name Gently: Ne-chaaaaa-ko.” The book is divided into six
chapters. The first chapter, “Aotearoa: Land of the Long White
Cloud,” is largely based on her New Zealand background. The second,
“Seven Thousand Rivers,” comprises the two poem/essays. The third,
“Courage of the Wild Crocus,” deals with violence against women.
Chapter 4, “Twelve Salmon Pink Roses,” and Chapter 5, “Chaos and
Delight: The Melody of What Happens,” are filled with witty personal
observations about family, friends, and news events. Chapter 6,
“Chiaroscuro: Clear Dark,” is set in Canada as a whole and northern
British Columbia (where Baldwin currently resides) in particular.

This is an engaging, endearing, and enjoyable collection. Baldwin
speaks with a power that comes from a firm grasp of her New Zealand
roots and family heritage as well as her active interaction with the
Canadian environment and its people. Although not strongly rhythmic in a
metrical sense, her poems display a skill and dexterity in the use of
diction and juxtaposition. Her love and respect for the past comes
through in her story about her “early life marinated in deep love and
in stories.” In the collection she also expresses an ongoing concern
for the environment, the disenfranchised, and the violated, as well as a
confidence and fearlessness about the future. The book ends with the
following lines: “we lie on our backs / side by side, looking up /
watching the sky bringing / heaven to earth.”