All Things Said and Done.

Kim Fahner is a poet and the author of You Must Imagine the Cold Here.

For a reader who lives in northern Ontario, as this reviewer does, Marita Dachsel’s debut collection of poetry strikes a chord. She speaks tellingly of “bodies releasing everything / with the aid of an open bar” in “Quietly,” of deer carcasses hanging in carports, and that almost indescribable need that most northern teens feel to escape their hometown, to go south to bigger and (supposedly) better things in cities like Toronto or Vancouver. These are universal themes for northerners who always seem to wonder what lies beyond their own rugged landscapes.

There is a real sense here of a person evolving, moving through times and spaces (or places), that is reflected in the poems themselves. Dachsel is adept with phrasing, sculpting lines and stanzas with great artistry. In quite a number of her poems, Dachsel uses an almost conversational tone, documenting the intricacies of an intimate relationship with alternating “She” and “He” stanzas that seem to echo in a stylistic manner. This technique is a bit like dropping a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples move outward, as the reader enters into the depth of a twosome, sensing their rhythms and conflicts almost intuitively.

The last part of the book is revealing in that, as we travel, we often find out more about ourselves, and our inner lives, rather than just visiting a new country or continent. As Dachsel writes in “Magnetic Island,” “I am a tourist, a stranger, / This gives me the power / to turn my back on / anyone and anything.” In “Flight Attendants,” the poet humourously reflects on the superficial beauty of those who fly the skies for a living.

Overall, All Things Said and Done is an excellent collection of poems. Although the travel poems are very good, it is the first part of the book, which speaks to the extraordinary facets of ordinary life, that reminds me of the work of Bronwen Wallace. Having said that, it seems to me that Marita Dachsel is a rising poet who is one to watch and cultivate.