Elephant Street

Douglas Barbour is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.
He is the author of Lyric/anti-lyric : Essays on Contemporary Poetry,
Breath Takes, and Fragmenting Body Etc.

Ron Charach is a practising psychiatrist, and his practice definitely
enters his writing. In Elephant Street, he tends to tell stories, most
of which are interesting. Some are personal, in the sense that the
writer seems to be telling of his own life; some are fictional, in the
sense that their personas or protagonists are clearly distanced, often
satirically. Charach has a knack for sharp closure, even in pieces that
suggest there is no such thing as a firm conclusion, however much we
might wish for one.

In “Late-Arriving Winter,” he discusses “an artist friend’s
show called ‘Cancelled’” in which she includes quotations “from
critics of her past work.” One reads: “A dull sociological stew. / I
have to laugh at that one, thinking, Just like a political poem.” This
is a neat attempt to put off possible criticism of his own work, but the
problem exists here. Charach worries about the violence in cities, among
nations, from terrorists, and in all the other personal and public
places it may be found. His insights are those of a compassionate,
intelligent middle-aged Canadian

who only wishes the best for his (and all) children. Readers will find
it hard not to agree, but I’m not sure they will find each piece
equally compelling.

There are two pieces responding to famous large paintings by Stanley
Spencer. Here Charach reaches for the spiritual largeness of Spencer’s
vision, and the poems have a generosity without a program not always
found in his other work. Elephant Street asks readers to consider how
the political enters the personal, and will speak to readers willing to
travel that crossroads with him.