The Memory Orchard

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

Tim Bowling won the Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize and the
Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry. His last verse
collection, The Witness Ghost, was short-listed for the 2003 Governor
General’s Literary Award for Poetry.

Although The Memory Orchard is more likely to be studied than enjoyed,
the poet displays a subtle humour. He admits, in “Ladders,” that
“I fished the way Frost farmed, / half-assed and for the myths / the
poems require.” He deconstructs the mentality of hockey-obsessed boys
when he observes that Miss Harrison, his Grade 1 teacher, is beautiful
because “Recess-rumour stated that she once dated Bobby Orr.”

In “Widow,” the title character passes the “Queen Street
madhouse.” Toronto readers will instantly recognize their city’s
notorious mental institution, but will other Canadians do the same?
Bowling assumes that they will catch this reference, in the same manner
that Americans associate “Bellevue” with New York City. Fortunately,
he is from British Columbia. If he were a Torontonian, he might be
viewed as myopic and/or arrogant.

This book could appeal to literary scholars and Bowling fans.