Charmes de la fureur/Spells of Fury

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto broadcaster and public relations
consultant.

Michel Beaulieu is a prolific poet and novelist from Quebec, a winner of the Governor General’s award for poetry in 1982. Spells of Fury, his newest poetic offering, sizzles off the pages. Even in translation, by Arlette Franciere, Beaulieu’s imagery retains its anger and cutting savagery.

Beaulieu explores life and nature in microscopic detail and vents his fury at and frustrations with both. His physical world is a “user” in which both men and women are “used.” Their hopes and ambitions are dashed amid the relentless cruelty and artifice of modern society. Nature is the hunter, mankind its prey. “We don’t die once but slowly, on the spit of days and skyscrapers.”

Beaulieu’s work is divided into two sections. “Spells of Fury” is followed by “Layers in Time,” a section equal to the first in intensity, yet more inward-looking and analytical; a sensual poem of love and lust. Beaulieu creates magic out of the commonplace. The rhythm and cadence of his works give off vibrations of power and determination in the face of all odds.

In both the original French and the English translation, Beaulieu presents man in nature as the survivor with equal certainty and perseverance. The human race refutes desperation and offers up its fury and combativeness against the whims of Fate and the destructiveness of its own, self-created society.

Beaulieu is a master craftsman who carves his words, ideas, and images into masterpieces of written art.