Resurrection in the Cartoon

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

This volume of poetry by recording artist and children’s book author
Robert Priest signals his re-emergence as a poet.

The first section, Resurrection in the Cartoon, is dominated by culture
icons Elvis and The Three Stooges. The former becomes a contemporary
Bacchus figure. If this genre is too familiar, “Parallelvis
Universes” posits enough alternate realities to distract potential
critics. The Stooges experience similar transformations, but in “My
Three Stooges” and “The Three Sexual Survivor Stooges” a social
conscience emerges from the dementia.

The next section, Wordfare, is a dig at workfare and its underlying
right-wing corporate doctrines. Inevitably, this Ontario poet denounces
Mike Harris and his Common Sense Revolution. Priest’s political
commentary is balanced by humorous observations on progressive politics.
“Modified Famous Phrases” disrupts each verse with the slogan
“STOP THE WAR ON THE POOR,” a play on the stereotype of leftists as
single-issue drones.

At first glance, the poems in the section In Slow Apocalypse appear to
consist of routine observations, but “Post-Modern Penis” and “Ode
to the Asshole” offer bawdy alternatives.

Priest comforts the afflicted, afflicts the comfortable, and challenges
both.