Left Fields

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

Before southwestern Ontario poet Jeanette Lynes published A Woman Alone
on the Atikokan Highway and this collection, her verse appeared in
Prairie Fire, Malahat Review, and other well-known Canadian literary
magazines. Other poems have been commissioned by CBC Radio. In 2001, she
received the Bliss Carman Poetry Award. This record might impress book
reviewers.

Readers are different; some may believe that references are for
corporate personnel directors. A certain segment of the public seeks
poets who try to culturally bond with them. Lynes does so, but her
strategy is risky. A costumed Rocky Horror Picture show fan, who sang
along with the soundtrack at a 1970s midnight screening, might enjoy the
line “I did the time warp, now I have to pay.” Men who dismiss The
Hours as a lousy “chick flick” and despise British author Virginia
Woolf’s works may also condemn a poem with that movie’s title that
quotes the feminist literary icon.

In the Ottawa poetry magazine Arc, critic Barbara Myers wrote that
Lynes has an “unmistakable woman-voice.” This does not mean that she
is a 1970s “libber” proclaiming, “I am woman, hear me roar!”
Instead, she states, “I am Jeanette, here’s my story.” Her
husband’s put-down of contemporary babysitters jogs sinister 1971
memories of her own babysitting experiences. The “Dragon-Dad /
breathing rye driving me / home” feels that his five-dollar payment
entitles him to touch her knee. The poet recalls and judges.

Although Lynes offers solid credentials and memorable scenes, much of
this book is forgettable. Balance those aforementioned factors and the
author remains a contender.