Hotel Dieu: Letters to Madame Lee
by C.J. Pellerin
Vallum Chapbook Series, No.5, 2008
Reviewed by Joanna M. Weston
Pellerin’s twenty poems in this chapbook deal
primarily with his illness, at the Hotel Dieu
hospital in Montreal, presumably physical but with
mental overtones. The reference to Madame Lee is
left unclear. The language is, to start with,
shocking and visceral but slows to gentler tones,
picked up from the epigraphs at the beginning.
The first poem, ‘Prelude’, is a line down the page:
Freak
18
degree
squall
last
leaves
let go
blind…
(p.3)
The poem sets up expectation for storms ahead, and
the reader is not disappointed as the second poem,
‘Ambulance (Going Down)’ pitches illness
unequivocally:
Request loosen
strap that I can turn
to vomit
container provided
slow thick
ochre ooze …
(p.4)
The following five poems continue with the theme
of illness, with recovery muted but surfacing
later. The rest of the poems deal with the more
general themes of creation and memories without
the shock value.
The epigraphs at the beginning of the book are
from some of the Chinese Tang dynasty poets, Wang
Wei, Tu Fu, and Yuan Chien. A few of Pellerin’s
poems are possibly modeled on these poets, as
‘Moon Honed’ (after Tu Fu’s “Wandering Breezes: 5”)
Moon honed to a scythe
Halloween ‘round the bend
how many harvests to go
seasons of grief laid low?
Peace is acceptance that
which I can’t alter XXXX deny?
Earth laden with other wines
this thirst must now apply?
Echoes of the Tang Dynasty poets occur throughout
the book. Pellerin would do well to emulate them
and their reflections on the created order.
Joanna M. Weston
A SUMMER FATHER - poetry - Frontenac House
2006 ISBN: 1-89718105-1 $15.95
THOSE BLUE SHOES for ages 7-12
http://www3.telus.net/public/west34/
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