Behind the Scenes

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

Adele Kearns Thomas was raised in the Gatineau Hills, in Quebec’s
Outouais region. Some poems in Behind the Scenes, such as “Kazabazua
Winter,” deal directly with that area. Others express the poet’s
appreciation of nature.

Although Thomas writes predominantly mainstream poetry, some of her
poems are set in an unconventional manner. The poem “Xmas,” for
example, is shaped like a Christmas tree. Such avant-garde affectations
can be disconcerting.

In “Sentinels–Old and New,” the child learns to observe, and the
adult learns to comment intelligently on her observations. Elsewhere,
the poet honors the RCMP, who tamed the West, but remembers that their
negligence allowed an intruder to invade the prime minister’s official
residence (“Off guard, on guard at 24 Sussex. / Malcontent switches
on”). Her humor is rare and dry. When a drunken conga line
disintegrates, “a sudden surge snaps / mid-section / loose tail whips
/ flailing feet / arms stretch / for reattachment.”

For Thomas, behind the scenes is the ideal vantage point, enabling
readers to discover the power—and limits—of the understated voice.