Skelton at 60

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia and is the
co-editor of Four Realities: Poets of Northern B.C.

Skelton at 60 is a printed birthday party for Robin Skelton. I feel like someone reading another person’s birthday cards. Some of the notes are intelligible while others contain inside jokes or references that are lost on one who is not a close friend of the guest of honour. Together the poems, essays, messages, photos, and drawings collected here present a distinct set of images and impressions of the man Robin Skelton: energy, an overgrown beard, Irish whisky, a strange laugh, rings on eight fingers, unusual hats. Perhaps too much stress is laid upon these idiosyncrasies. The book comes dangerously close to making Skelton into that bane of public life: the professional personality.

At parties, under the influence of “good cheer,” one may do silly things that good judgement would normally forbid. So it is with some of the pieces published here. It’s a party and normal standards of (written) behaviour have been loosened a bit. Two offerings emerge head and shoulders above the rest: “Victoria Avenue’s Open Door” by Charles Lillard, the only piece that dares to be controversial, and “Play These Grand Things Straight” by John Webb, a very good introduction to Skelton’s poetry. Also valuable are the checklist of his works and the chronology of his achievements which the editor provides. The festschrift concludes with a selection of Skelton’s recent poetry and two excellent short stories.