Moving to the Clear

Susan McKnight is an administrator of the Courts Technology Integrated Justice Project at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

Jason Dewinetz’s first full-length book of poetry is divided into four
sections. The first section, “A Guide to the Birds of the North
Okanagan,” is a group of poems about a relationship, with emphasis on
those little things that we sometimes forget. These poems are emotional
and tender, but there is a sense of something missing, something
unfulfilled. The second section, “Gericault’s Severed Limbs
Paintings,” approaches love, relationships, and awful beauty through
the eyes of Gericault. Dewinetz seems to understand Gericault’s need
to find something living in the dead that he chose to paint. Although
the images are sometimes brutal, the passion for life is real.

The poems in “Moving to the Clear” are more personal, but there is
still a sense of something missing. Beneath the portrayal of love and
family ties and belonging is an undercurrent of sadness that is
beautifully articulated in language which seems to come from a deep,
natural tie with all things earthly.

“In Theory” takes a different approach through the inclusion of
Derrida and Bakhtin, yet the same relationship quandary surfaces. There
is intelligence and strength in these poems, but the sense of being
incomplete still haunts the poetry.

Dewinetz is the founder of Greenboathouse Books, which has produced
several reading series, published more than 16 chapbooks, and become a
showcase for some of Canada’s best emerging poets.