Lake Where No One Swims

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

Many younger Canadians wish to replace current literary icons, such as
Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, with newer writers. Fortunately
for them, Toronto’s Pedlar Press finds newcomers like Chris Chambers
and publishes their verse.

Although Chambers is endorsed by Dennis Lee and Gord Downie, two vital
Canadian artists, his work evokes the inactive American singer Perry
Como. Both produce understated output; smooth for some, soporific for
others. Even sex and violence are covered in a detached manner. The
strip sequence in “Armour in Fidelity,” in which an armoured woman
and a man in hockey gear have intercourse, is mildly erotic, except for
those with Mario Lemieux/Joan of Arc fantasies. The plot of “Guerrilla
Squatter”—a mugger takes over his hospitalized victim’s
apartment—is a humorless Woody Allen routine. Chambers displays
passion when “Egged On by Phil Marchand.” The Toronto Star’s
literary critic’s pan of three poetry anthologies inspires him to
indict Phil for “killing a country of young poets dreaming.”
Realizing fantasy’s limits, he draws his battle lines.

The verse contains interesting unspoken implications. The nostalgic
reverie, “Realizing Toronto,” mentions a 1970s song that Chambers
first heard on “1050 CHUM” and also more recently. He does not
mention that the Toronto rock station that once played contemporary
music is now playing “golden oldies.” Has a similar process affected
the poet?

Chambers’s whimsy falters. One is unable to appreciate the
otherworldly “jam session” in “St. Mary’s Gate” without a
sense of déjа vu. The superspy fantasy in “‘Something Big’s Come
Up’” is an obvious cliché. At least he appeals to boozers; in
“Greatest Hits of Drinking Water,” he cleverly praises “that
chlorinated fluorine treat” that destroys “the fur on my teeth.”

The former Book City clerk has written the bookstore owner’s
nightmare—a book that is interesting to read, but not compelling
enough to buy.