An All Day Fix
by Ed Shaw
Thirteenth Tiger Press, 2000
Reviewed by Kathy Shaidle
This slender volume, Shaw's debut collection, offers a
number of sincere, deeply felt poems. His main themes are his reluctant
farewell to childhood and the subsequent unwelcome encroachment of
"the real world." In a poem of the same name, Shaw's Big
Brother-ish speaker tells an ageing grown-up that it's "time to
hand in your hair." A well turned, and -observed, phrase;
unfortunately, few of Shaw's poems contain similar witty, sophisticated
lines.
"The Real World" is a brave poem in the sense that it
rhymes. Shaw is to be congratulated for daring to attempt this
unfashionable form. He is on to something here, and may wish to consider
exploring the form further, by experimenting with, say, a different sort
of line break: the end of a line needn't necessarily be the end of a
sentence.
Don Coles is the finest (English language) practitioner of
modern rhyming poetry, single-handedly raising such verse above and
beyond the Hallmark level. Shaw may wish to look to this acclaimed
Canadian master for further inspiration. Shaw is rather given over to
prosaic overstatement, "telling" rather than
"showing." And being a female approaching middle age, I no
longer share Shaw's evident fascination with skulls,
"disintegrating coffins," excessive alcohol consumption and clichéd
apocalyptic landscapes.
I would be interested in seeing where
Shaw's talent leads him, when he is a little older and more widely
read.
Kathy
Shaidle's first poetry
collection was shortlisted for the 1998 Governor General's Award. Among
other things, she hosts the weblog RelapsedCatholic.com, "where the
religious rubber meets the pop culture road." |
