The Stubborn Particulars of Grace

Carolyn Hlus was a lecturer in English literature at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.

Bronwen Wallace’s collection of poems, The Stubborn Particulars of Grace, explores the meaning of grace as it applies often simply to ordinary occurrences of family, friends, and community in the domestic and work realm. Some of the poems describe the contradictory family interactions of childhood. The prologue, “Appeal, “ subtly implies the conflicting attitudes of the persona’s parents towards religion, despite their respect for Protestant traditions. The poems in the first section maintain middle-class assumptions while exploring the nuances of life gained through experience. “Testimonies,” the second section, contains testimonies, as the title aptly portends, to friends, to cats even; but these circumscribe and magnify “Benediction,” a nostalgic farewell to the author’s ex-husband, who has died of cancer. Poems in the third section, “Bones,” address the problems of battered women and are, by far, the strongest poems in the collection. Wallace’s understated character sketches vividly portray the complexities of violence against women. She describes Ruth: “eyes swollen shut, broken jaw wired / and eighteen stitches closing one ear. This / is what a man might do / if his wife talked during the 6 o’clock news.” The poem continues, “‘And I knew better,’ she tells us softly, / ‘I guess I just forgot myself.’” Descriptions such as this stand out and demand notice. Poems in the final section pull away from reality and shift towards the fantasy of gorillas, dolls and stuntmen, to name a few.

Wallace’s poems are consistently well crafted. Rhythm and tone are even throughout. The collection is brought full circle in the concluding poem with the father again asking “the blessing” as he did in the first poem. Despite these merits, the poetry is unduly prosaic. I yearned for that special sparkle that imbues words with magic, and failed to find it.