Epics of everyday life

Queen of all the Dustbalis and Othes Epics of Everyday Life, by (i Richardson, Polesicr Press Ltd., 95 pp., paper.

WHEN THE demands of purple prose are too much for the overwrought

mind, just chew on a chunk of doggerel and enjoy the balm of rhyme. BC radio listeness will be tickled pink to know that favorite Gabereau guest Bill Richardson has com- piled his goofy verses into a book.

Here, gathered in one glowing collection are the “epics of everyday life’’ — poems that Richardson penned for ordinary Canadians across this poem-poor laixel (or at least for ordinary CBC juntkies).

Although I generally scom in- troductions, this one is a must- read as it sets the tone for the rest of the book and explains the complex workings of the muse (which, by the way, involve vacuum Cleaner attachments ...).

in the introduction, we meet Nune Clay, Richardson’s connec- tion to the cause that inspires his rhymes.

(na strange emergency rcom encounter that i won't give away, a voice speaks in Nurse Clay's ear: “Be not afraia, ‘You are blessed among nurses.” Thereafter she receives a revelation about the healing properties of poetry.

' _ Murse Clay then leads us through the corridors, pointing out the bacigreund behind Richard- son’s poems. in Pas de Stew, far instance, a poem about pareats having to make ret another costume ‘for the little dear’s dance recital, she siates in eammest, “It is a family connection that Mr. Richardson holds dear to his heart, as he hirself is the child of

Richardson's busy pen versifies the pet peeves and tiny coreforts of life. On Have Gums Will Travel, he extols the virtwes of private hygiene and chastises those wio think teeth, nose and ear picking is a public activity:

“To all you thoughtless twits who in a restaurant or a queue! Take a tength of floss and, making

passes/Through your teeth, ancint the rourn with toothy residucs,/

Rarbara Black

—me

BOOK REVIEW

And leave your spots on other people's glasses/To you | wish a legacy of lacerated gums ..."’

The barmy bard reveals his mi- raculous powers of insight into the fives of entirely other species, in inside Lookin’ Out, a poem about what cats get up to when we jeave the house.

He writes “The first thing your kittens do is start to work the phones./They cail up all their friends and say, ‘Dig this we’re home alone!/The two-legged wonder's gone to work. Hot dog! Another chance/To claw the chairs to ribbons and to chew her favorite plants.’ ’’

Do not look for descriptions of high and mighty peaks, nor phito- sophical musings, nor socio- political tinks. Tis book is as down to earth as its title boldly states. It's all about dust and poop and kids and quirky mates.

Quaint, if meagre, drawings are

FSH O-0005767.0-6 cY Unbelievable! The true stosy of the discovery of Oni seOR. whic holds the key to the huture of space exptoretion, and the govemmment's attempt to censor all information. LIBRARIES, BOOK STORES $8.95

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“ON A SPACE AVAILABILITY BASIS-OFFER! EXPIRES DEC. 21/92

by Bill Horne.

Felines, Great Poets on Notorious Cats, Linocuts by Martha Paulos, Chronicie Books, 64 pr., hardcover.

Cats are maddening, affec- tienate, aloof. It is their sheer in- dividuality and unpredictability that makes them treasured as a contrast to that slobbering, servile species, the canine.

In Felines, Great Poets on Notorious Cats, kitties of all temperaments are celedsatec and sneered at in verse. The poems of Ogden Nash, Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, T.S. Eliot and more grace these attractively designed pages, accompanied by Martha Paulos’ delightful Enocuts, an art form not much in use these days.

The poems are for the most part rather genteel, cestainly not vulgar.

Unlike Bill Richardson‘s book, the illustrations in Felines are played with equal weight to the poetry. Paulos captures cats in ac- tivities they are famous for: the mystery of purring, baiting the neighborhood dogs from a safe place, scratching the master or mistress in a fit of feline affection, and terrorizing the house when the owners foolishly leave home with kitty-cat inside.

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