West Window

Louise H. Girard was Head of Book Selection, University of St. Michael's College Library, Toronto.

As indicated by its subtitle, this is a selection of George Bowering’s poetry. Three of the selections, “Curious,” “At War with the U.S.,” and “Allophanes,” have appeared separately as books in 1973, 1974, and 1976, respectively. These three selections make up 80 percent of the work. The fourth selection, “Uncle Louis,” was published as a “Manuscript Edition” in 1980 and it, as well as part of the fifth selection, “Between the Sheets,” has previously appeared in a journal. The only selections in the work which seem never to have appeared either in book form or in a journal are “Four Jobs” and “Against Description,” both of which are parts of “Between the Sheets.” The former was read on CBC’s “Anthology” and the latter was published as a Cross Country post card.

This is an excellent selection of George Bowering’s work in that it covers a wide range of forms and subject matter. The first selection, “Curious,” consists of 48 one-page descriptions of George Bowering’s friends, acquaintances, and colleagues (all poets). Although some of the poems emphasize Bowering’s reaction to the person described rather than the person, most are poems wherein the form works with the content to capture the essence of the character (as experienced by Bowering, of course).

I am led to believe I havent.

She seems to have.

(Margaret Atwood)

...He sits in prison & drinks &

his home life drips into the poems, black drops, prison is a backdrop for his gloom. It is gloomy; ness...

In “At War with the U.S.” we are presented with 34 segments of poetry which may at times appear disconnected but which all describe the horror and futility of wars of all kinds and are imbued with a feeling of despair tempered by realism.

“Albophanes” is a metaphysical poem in which Bowering explores the meaning of life and language. As his quest progresses, he goes through different stages — i.e., observation, reflection, etc. — till he reaches a form of understanding grounded both in the realm of the imagination and in the real world.

“Uncle Louis” consists of a poem and an accompanying page-by-page commentary of the poem. This gives “Uncle Louis” a third dimension within which the poem and the commentary act upon one another so that we become aware of both the writer of the poem and the commentator as persona above and beyond what they are saying. Eventually the poem as a whole achieves a momentum that is greater than the sum of its parts and the poet persona achieves greater poetical scope.

Finally, in “Between the Sheets” we find Bowering exploring his own past (or so it seems) through a series of poems that touch upon his relationship with his father, his childhood, his summer jobs, and ultimately everything that begins “between the sheets”:

Entrance of the celebrant

between the sheets

News of the phoenix

between the sheets

“Between the Sheets”