st mary at main

Chris Knight is copy editor of the National Post.

Think of the great cities of the world, and it’s a safe bet that
Winnipeg doesn’t spring immediately to mind. Narrow your range to
Canada and, well, it still probably doesn’t place in the top three.
But Patrick Friesen, who lived there for 30 years (he now resides in
Vancouver), has produced a collection of 63 poems as moving as any
dedicated to London or Paris or Montreal.

The book, which takes its title from a Winnipeg intersection, captures
the city in its many moods. “ellice avenue” recalls a poignant
father-and-daughter moment 25 years ago, while “letting go”
describes fear and random violence. In a way, these poems could almost
be about any city, but Friesen deftly punctures this idea with verses
like “this ain’t chicago,” which begins: “this ain’t chicago
with its tracks and brown with its sandburg muscle / and rhythm this is
two rivers passing through the resurrection.” And there are other,
more concrete details that create a sense of place. In “backbone
beat,” he writes: “the edge of things here / the shield butting at
our shoulder / the lake we live in / this is all risk and sudden death /
we keep drumming / so we won’t perish on the edge of the prairie / our
trains rumbling through the nights.” What other great city could this
be?