Earle Street
Arleen Pare’s new book of poems, Earle Street (Talonbooks, 2020), has such a charming cover. The illustration is by Andrea Bennett who also designed the cover and interior of the book. Andrea got her BA in English and French from the University of Guelph. Of course they did! There’s always a connection to Guelph (where I used to live before moving west fifteen years ago).
There’s a whole world on a street when you think of the various ages, ethnicities, races, life experiences and so on. And there are memories on a street, of streets you used to live on as well as musings on the people you see pass by and the stories you hear about people who once lived there. “This Street is a World” is one of the sections of Arleen’s book along with other sections that see the street as a river, an arboretum, and a window.
Arleen has written poems about trees (most important is the Katsura which she says is beautiful and sympathetic), the birds (with a “November Bird Count From Inside the House”), rats, a grey squirrel, an orange cat, the people, the naming of the street, memories of her own ancestors, and of her own past. All of these aspects, including the various forms used, make it a rich and intimate exploration of place as well as with oneself.
Earle Street is dedicated to Arleen’s “neighbours who are friendly and kind.” Earle Street, the actual street, is in Victoria, B.C. where Arleen lives with her wife Chris Fox.
“This Land is a Language” is a beautiful exploration of place and language. The street of which Arleen writes is on the “unceded territories” of “The Songhees and Esquimalt Nations the Lekwungen […]