Loving the Alien

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

It would be wrong to dismiss this book as “woman’s verse,” but it
might be accurate to classify it as “female-oriented” because many
of the poems deal with women’s health and/or relationship issues.
Fortunately, the author’s social commentary can appeal to all.

She showcases her relevance by writing “A Poem for September 13th,
2001,” a date that a footnote reminds us occurred “two days after
the terrorist attacks in America.” Its hopeful message celebrates both
a man’s escape from the World Trade Center and the birth of her
daughter. It is true that her experience is uniquely feminine, but she
combines it with the 9/11 story to reaffirm the human spirit.

In “Easter in North Bay” she not only deals with menstrual cycles,
but also observes the secularization of Ontario society. She spends
“Good Friday” in “Aquabics Class.” “Easter Sunday” explores
that issue in a more explicit manner. The local cathedral is a
“ballasting iceberg of belief / fronting waves of atheistic
traffic.” Since the poet enters that building to donate blood, she
symbolically chooses good works over faith.

Laurie Kruk is known as a literary scholar. Her first poetry
collection, Theories of the World, was published in 1992. She also
published The Voice Is the Story: Conversations with Writers of Canadian
Short Fiction in 2003. Loving the Alien reintroduces some readers to
Kruk the poet and introduces others to the woman.