No Sad Songs Wanted Here

James Deahl is co-publisher of Mekler & Deahl Publications and the
author of Under the Watchful Eye.

This is by my count Ray Souster’s 37th book, yet it is as fresh and
exciting as anything he has published over the past 50 years. The
collection is built on two extended poetic sequences: “A Local History
of Chocolate” and “No Sad Songs Wanted Here: The Life & Death of the
Colonial Bar & Grill.”

The latter sequence comprises 11 jazz poems set in Toronto’s Colonial
Bar & Grill. Souster brilliantly captures the ambience of the Colonial.
Jazz fans will love his poems about the music of Duke Ellington, Gerry
Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Stan Getz, as well as his wry piece on the
arrogance of the King of Swing.

Not quite as well written, but still a delight to read, is his sequence
on Toronto’s chocolate factories. The shorter sections—Patterson’s
and William Neilson’s—read better than the longer passages about
Laura Secord and Jenny Lind. Souster does tend to turn poetry into prose
at times, especially when a poetic unit runs longer than a page; his
shorter poems keep the flow of his language lively and pure. Although
devoted to chocolate, these poems celebrate Toronto—and the city is
richer.