Real Lives

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

In these poems, the author, an English teacher at Йcole Secondaire le
Caron in Penetanguishene, explores the lives of small-town Ontario males
like himself. He offers honest observations of both past and present.

In reliving his childhood, the poet recalls facing bullies such as the
“Brothers 3.” He is unjustly scolded for his counterproductive
retaliation against “Donny S.” because he kicked him “where it
hurts.” Understanding tempers triumph when he notes that “The N
Boys” became bullies due to their “brutish father / their mentor”;
when their abused mother impales him, however, Bell “laugh[s] /
imagining their hurt and the hot / slip of daddy’s blood on their
boots.”

Hockey is a major theme, bridging the poet’s past and present with
honest nostalgia. “The way it should be advocates nonjudgmental team
selection,” but Bell dramatically lists the reasons why some boys are
chosen last. “Territorial Imperative” counters with a spirited
celebration of street hockey; the players are ready to use “younger
siblings and dead dogs, if available” as roadblocks against passing
cars, but implicit tradition deters motorists. “For what they might
have been” places the 18-year-old poet in Maple Leaf Gardens, where he
watches superstar Bobby Orr, also 18, in action. Adult hockey’s
pitfalls are thoroughly examined in “I Don’t Want to Be 44,” about
an aging minor-leaguer’s deterioration.

The poet relates world events to his own life. “Moon and men”
recalls his drunkenness during the Apollo XI landing. As the Gulf War
begins, Bell’s “Preparations for War / Jan. 16 1991” are his usual
peacetime chores.

Technique does not always support content. In “Boys,” the phrase
“Lucky Dollar Bob” is set in three indented lines to end this poem
in a diminuendo. Sometimes you don’t see the wires; sometimes you do.