The Luskville Reductions.

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

Western poet Monty Reid moved to Luskville, Quebec, in 1999, when he became director of Exhibition Services at Ottawa’s Canadian Museum of Nature. That move helped inspire a series of poems about the dissolution of a composer’s marriage. Reid notes that he “lived there for five years, until my partner … returned to Alberta in 1994.” Since they moved there in 1999, she must have departed in 2004—even the introduction should not be taken too literally.

Although a failed relationship is mourned, loss is not merely a pervasive theme. Divisive issues are touched upon, even in poems that deal with supposedly irrelevant topics, such as television. When he discusses “the remote,” he tells his ex, “Ok / you hold it.” Since men in this culture are often accused of hogging those controls, he wishes to reassure her that he not one of those stereotyped males. He observes that “if you live together / long enough / you and your television / begin to resemble one another,” prompting the perceptive reader to yell, “It’s ‘spouse’!” Unfortunately, the wife has left and the TV set remains.

A later poem compares washing the dishes to baptism. The protagonist does not celebrate religion or domestic duties, but the fact that the couple shared that chore. The former employee of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta, humorously exploits his scientific knowledge. He lists “two stubborn thumbs / because who could be happy opposing one thing at a time.” Homo sapiens’ distinguishing feature is viewed in a different light. The composer leavens his bitterness with spiritual generosity. At first, he directs his estranged mate to delete the unfinished songs that he left on her hard drive, but then invites her to find and claim these works. This balance is found elsewhere. Emotionally engaged poetry remains objective. Monty Reid’s intelligently written text is easy to understand, enabling readers to feel comfortable in his personal tragedy.