Going Down Goose Lane Toward Broken Jaw: Fredericton Poems and Stories. Fredericton Poems and Stories

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

Canada Post employee Wayne Ray is a co-founder of the Canadian Poetry Association, published poet, essayist, and short story writer. In 2002, he moved from London (Ontario) to work at a postal plant in Fredericton. That change inspired him to write this prose/poetry collection and name it after two major New Brunswick literary presses.

The fact that this book concludes with a few “Linked Slice of Life Short Stories” should not lead readers to conclude that the section is a poet’s afterthought. These tales are autobiographical, which makes them important, at least to him.

Ray is able to maintain a tolerable level of predictability. In “May 2nd 2002,” Ryan, his fictional alter ego, “adopts” Jessica White, a “down and out” young woman he removes from a friend’s downtown gallery. Perceptive readers can readily sense that his generosity begins a troubled relationship that will inevitably collapse, but cannot figure out that its end will involve police intervention.

Unfortunately, even an intimate knowledge of one’s subject is no substitute for rigorous proofreading. In “Karen (in three parts)” its Fredericton title character sees her friend Kelly off at the local bus terminal. Since buses from “Montreal TO Ottawa” (as is written in the poem) do not do not operate in New Brunswick, the author should have written “Montreal/Ottawa Express” instead.

Ray is the Baskin-Robbins of understatement, offering 31 flavours of subtlety. Readers can pick their favourites, but the best example can be found in “Whippitt Lounge.” He reminds a middle-aged reveller to learn “why / your pockets are empty and your car / is parked safe but sideways / in the driveway.” That vehicle was probably driven home by a drunken driver; the poet allows us to discern the danger behind the boozy hijinks.