Summary

This is psychiatrist Ron Charach's seventh collection of poems. It begins with the narrator going through security in order to board an airplane--a metaphor for contemporary society: we structure more and more "security" into our lives, but the uncertainty seems to increase, rather than decrease. The theme of the book is safe passage: our attempts to achieve it, our failures, and our companions along the way. In the last poem ("The Night After"), Charach tells us, "all the talk in the world cannot dampen my fear / of a world bereft of holiness." The quest is unsuccessful, yet somehow saved by a few fleeting moments of contact with something else; perhaps, it is the sacred.

Commentary

Charach's work retains his characteristic discursive, yet incisive style--sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't--replete with strong narrative drive, wonderful images, and plenty of dark humor. While many of these poems reflect their author's medical sensibility, the poems that compose the section called "The Consultant" deal directly with medical topics or themes. Among these is the delightful "Male Pattern Baldness," as well as an uncharacteristically small gem entitled "The Old Cardiology Dream." That little 12-line masterpiece is worth the price of admission in itself.

Publisher

Signature Editions

Place Published

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Edition

2003

Page Count

90