Common Place Ecstasies

Susan McKnight is an administrator of the Courts Technology Integrated Justice Project at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

In this collection of poems, Wendy McGrath raises everyday objects and
experiences to almost beatific heights. Her experiences as a child of
working-class parents in small-town Alberta are related with tenderness
and gentle pride. It is apparent that there was no excess of money
during her childhood; however, there is no sense of neglect or hardship
as she lovingly relates stories about her parents and her four siblings.
One poem relates the story of McGrath in bed as a small child asking her
father to “stay stay until I go to sleep / and the sun is shifting its
position on the floor / my father stays holds my hand / looking out the
window / and I say ... just stay.” This scenario is repeated later as
her father lies in a hospital bed: “I’m just going to lie back and
sleep a little bit / Do you want me to go Dad? / No stay just stay.”
The memories of simple things like knitting take on exotic and
mysterious airs when coupled with descriptions of saffron and saints.

The book is divided into three sections: “In That Same House”
relates the everyday experiences of a child; “Preserving” begins
with a unique coupling of preserving instructions with unrelated
experiences triggered by one or two words in the instructions;
“Fingers of Women/Marking Time” explores the various vagaries of
womanhood best represented in the poignant waitress suite. McGrath’s
simple yet powerful images reflect the love and happiness she has
discovered through her remembrances.