“Blue Moon, Red Herring”
Written by Angeline Schellenberg
Published by JackPine Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$30.00
ISBN 978-1-927035-39-9
Clever, layered, original, fun. These words
leap to mind after reading Winnipeg poet Angeline Schellenberg’s colourful limited-edition
chapbook—bound to resemble a paint swatch—Blue Moon, Red Herring.
Each of the twenty-five prose poems in
this 2019 collection were inspired by a colour, and the colours themselves appear
where a Contents page normally would. No need for titles when the paint-chip colours
do the work, and each poem’s colour-matched with its sample. What results is candy—for
the eye and the mind.
Schellenberg employs a kind of controlled stream-of-consciousness in these delightful and deceptively simple poems, but don’t be fooled: much research went into this. My best analogy: microwaved popcorn. The poet’s hue-inspired thoughts seem to pop around, but they stay “in the bag” of her theme, and each poem’s written in a single controlled paragraph. Colours aside, Schellenberg’s myriad references are gleaned from art, literature, science, nature, religion, history, philosophy, pop culture, advertising slogans, cliché’s and personal experience, and this rich gallery of inspirations makes for genius mélanges.
In “Magenta” she writes: “like soul mates and democracy, magenta exists only in your mind”. We also get a miniature history lesson: “The French dye, christened for the fuchsia flower, was renamed for Napoleon III’s victory near Magenta, Italy”. Her piece “Chartreuse” demonstrates her wild juxtapositions: the colour “coats the roots of grass you chewed at recess,” it’s “the heart of an avocado,” and it’s “the VW van we could push-start to Mexico, a bed of Scotch moss where you could lay me down”.
It's often the final line of a poem that matters most; get it right, as in the “VW/Mexico/Scotch moss” line above, and the whole poem sings. Schellenberg’s also been published by the venerable Brick Books and her work’s earned much critical attention; she knows the import of endings—and wit. “Grey” ends with: “It’s what comes out in the wash. It takes no responsibility for teenaged boredom, or ashen faces aging with regret”. “Beige” is “Less kinky than khaki”. And, still on “Beige”: “Comfy as dumplings and oatmeal, while they say you can be beiged to death, deep down you know it would be completely painless”.
In “Purple” there are literary references (“and when I am old, I shall purr” and, for kids, “Dora’s backpack”) and an allusion to an old song (“One-eyed, one-horned, hazy and a heart of courage”).
“Red” is especially good and nuanced. It includes “The rainbow’s highest arc to trace the words of Christ,” “A can of bull says charge it” (triple-entendre?), and it “Fan’s revolution’s fame”.
This book gets all the stars for originality and wordplay. I wish I’d written it.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
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“The Poetry & Lyrics of Jay Semko”
By Jay Semko
Published by Wood Dragon Books
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$19.99
ISBN 9-781989-078631
“She ain’t pretty she just looks that way.” If you’re a Canadian of a certain age, there’s a good chance you’ll recognize that lyric from the song “She Ain’t Pretty” by The Northern Pikes, a Saskatchewan-based band that rose to popularity in the 1980s and still records. The Pikes’ bassist and a vocalist, Jay Semko, also penned many of the band’s songs, and now he’s released a book that’s “a mixture of song lyrics and ‘stand alone’ poems written over a 25-year period”.
The Poetry & Lyrics of Jay Semko begins with the artist’s abbreviated autobiography. Jay Semko was bullied as a grade-accelerated child in rural Saskatchewan; became passionate about learning guitar and writing songs in his teens; and enjoyed career success both with The Northern Pikes and as a solo artist (ten albums plus music composition for film and television). We also meet the Jay Semko who is “a recovering addict … living with Bipolar Disorder”. Sharing his experience “helps [him] immensely, and is crucial to [his] own personal recovery”.
The singer/songwriter frequently alludes to mental health issues, and alcohol addiction’s another demon he’s wrestled with. “Detox, rehab, and psychiatric centres” are a part of Semko’s map; writing about life’s valleys is good therapy. “Heartaches and Numbers” begins “you roam these halls every night/the paintings all seem to be haunted”. It includes: “in a couple of days/you’ll feel so much better/the shakes will wear off”. In the notes that follow the poems/songs, Semko shares that this track from 2010 was written while he was “jonesing, trying to stay cool,” and “addiction [is] personified in this song”.
The collection includes a few love poems and pieces about faith and aging, but the death of Semko’s mother is what informed the most touching of these diverse works. In “My Mother in the Hospital” he recounts how difficult it was to be on tour “with a busload of other ancient former vagabonds/preparing to rock across the nation” while his mother was dealing with terminal illness and was on the home/hospital/palliative care train. “St. Paul’s/mom now in a coma/the hospital death lady/explaining much too pleasantly/the science and the inevitable”.
Many of these poems document the artist’s darkness, but I expect readers will finish the book feeling pleased that they got to know the Jay Semko who’s survived stormy seas—like all of us—and lives to write and sing about them.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
“Race to Finish”
By Marion Mutala
Published by Millenium Marketing
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$19.99
ISBN 9-781777-371319
Marion Mutala is a literary machine, with sixteen published books and more on the way. I’ve previously reviewed two of her children’s books—Grateful and the 175-page, multi-story achievement, Baba’s Babushka. The Saskatchewan writer’s latest title, Race to Finish, is a poetry collection, dedicated to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG); the First Nations children buried in unmarked, residential school graves across Canada; and the Black Lives Matter movement. It begins with a foreword by artist Kevin L. Peeace, who relays the experience of presenting in an elementary school and being asked by a young student: “What was it like being at the residential school?” Peeace also provided the compelling black and white cover drawing of a bisected face: one half representing the bricks and tears of the residential school experience, the other representative of his peoples’ connection to the land and familial love—at least that’s my interpretation.
Mutala’s poems champion racial equality, gratitude, positivity, and God, as well as personal experience, ie: “the old wooden cookstove on the/farm when I was a child” (from “Reminds Me”). Not every poem is rosy, however. In “God’s Tricks” she acknowledges that “life happens”: “A little of this and a lot of that and too soon/We are in high school dragging our butts around,/Tired, wanting to sleep the days away and party/the nights”. And as life continues, we eventually “look old and tired” and “Our spirit is fried like a parched desert”.
The writers chooses various styles and structures: some pieces rhyme, some are a single stanza, and some, like the prosaic “Envision,” read like miniature pep talks: “Why not envision the best city in Saskatchewan, in Canada, in the entire world?” “Plain Lucky”—dedicated to the late writer Wes Funk—contains the everyday dialogue of two friends enjoying coffee together. The piece “Don’t You Think?” repeats the opening line and adds another with each new stanza. It begins: “I think if you stand in front of a church with a/Bible held high in your hand, you should open/it,” and in progressive stanzas the writer advises said Bible-holder/s to read and “use” the words of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
Mutala writes from the perspective of one who is “white privileged,” and she should be commended for addressing systemic racism in these poems, many of which blatantly articulate that “Black Lives and Indigenous Lives Matter”. She encourages “other white privileged” folks to speak up about racial injustice and persecution based on sexual orientation. “Do not be silent!” she heralds. “Smarten up!”
This small book includes an “Open Dialogue” featuring eight questions, ie: “What are things people can do to promote reconciliation?” and “What are things people can do to stop homophobia?” and invites readers to share their stories “so we can listen, understand, and change to make life better”. It concludes with a “Resources” section.
A portion of this book’s proceeds go to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Want to learn more about the prolific Mutala? Visit www.babasbabushka.ca .
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
