Open Road West

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

Author George Elliott Clarke states that Joe Blades is
“Fredericton’s avant garde poet,” and this work confirms his
opinion. The first poem is actually written on an Air Nova comment card,
leaving the critics to wonder if he is demeaning poetry or taking
consumer comment to the next level. Another verse is an illustrated ad
for “TM Poetry” that playfully mixes literature and popular culture.

Blades’s sense of humor ensures that this is no mere collection of
postmodernist tricks and pretensions. “Escape the ordinary,” the
first poem in the “over road” section, depicts writing as the
literary equivalent of a trucker’s school that advertises on Buffalo,
N.Y.’s Fox television affiliate; it’s one of the funnier poems of
the new millennium. The other poems in that set also work the concept,
but with diminishing effectiveness. “Sitchanalth” conveys its
message through language and visuals. The phrase “apart/ment-condo
buildings” uses a slash to demonstrate the separation of condominium
residents. Since the poet is describing an excavated Aboriginal village,
he is subtly comparing ancient First Nations communal societies with our
own individualistic one. Many opposing brackets creatively re-create a
scanning metal detector.

New Brunswick’s avant-garde champion may have repudiated rhyme, but
he has not abandoned it. The phrase “black coracle crow wingspread”
showcases his linguistic agility. The poem “estevan” is a lesser
example of Blades’s ability to master language.

The book’s final section, “t sea ache,” is a relatively
inaccessible mixture of Canadiana, artistic knowledge, and even 1980s
Britpop. Familiar references are recast in an abstract context. Even
those who have experienced an “eglinton east morning” may not
recognize Blades’s surreal Toronto.

The eclectic poet is generous, offering poems to both postmoderns and
their less esoteric peers.