Careful

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

Jacqueline Turner, a poet from Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia, has
achieved local success for her poetry reviews in Georgia Straight,
Vancouver’s alternative publication, and regional recognition for her
poems in the Calgary literary magazines filling Station and dANDelion.

Turner is cheeky enough to realize that some will ignore the
shortcomings of erotic works; people do not view adult movies for their
superior production values. Her phrase “curve my head / your lap /
legs quiver...” and the American truckers’ song lyric “Beehive
with her head in his lap. I don’t think she was taking a nap”
describe the same act.

Public tolerance is not unlimited. The lines “you’re / thick with
sticky clot / transforms into some / thing useful cranny / cleaning
product?” may appall many. This author could be ranked with radio
shock jock Howard Stern, not literary icon D.H. Lawrence.

The poem “Jacqueline’s School of Dance (en route to Montreal)”
echoes hip-hop lyrics with her own beats (“yarrow my marrow / shiver
me a rock jump”). It is tempting to assume that she is just another
wannabe, Canadian literature’s equivalent of Raji, the poseur record
executive from the film Be Cool. Turner is merely absorbing contemporary
influences without compromising her identity or integrity. She is not
that character, but Vince Vaughn, the actor who plays him; both realize
that middle-class white people who imitate hard-core black artists can
be funny.

Turner is capable of intelligent observations, such as “your diary of
a shy person still waiting to be / written.” Unfortunately, they are
dwarfed by verse that is merely nimble and rhythmic, not engaging or
even meaningful. The poet fails to reach the heart or mind. Careful is a
title—and a warning.