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_ By Sharon Miki

 

 

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Poetic collisions
Douglas College

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“Must this melody end with a question?”
The first poem in Calvin Wharton’s debut
book of poetry, The Song Collides (Anvil,
$16), ends with this question, which
frames the collection to come.

Wharton is currently the Chair of
Creative Writing at Douglas College,
where he also teaches several creative
writing courses. While The Song Collides
is his first published book of poetry,
Wharton holds an impressive list of
credentials: Wharton is the author of a
poetry chapbook, Visualized Chemistry,

a book of short stories, Three Songs by
Hank Williams, and a non-fiction book
with Silken Laumann called Rowing.
Additionally, he co-edited a poetry
anthology, East of Main, with Tom
Wayman and was the editor of Douglas
College’s literary magazine, Event, from
1996 to 2001.

The Song Collides blends a variety of
distinctly natural themes—from the plants,
animals and scenery of our physical
environment, to the emotional connections
we make with family and friends; this
combination has the unique ability to
leave the reader feeling an intimate
connection with the speaker of the poems
as well as with themselves.

This mixture of nature and personal
expressed throughout the book is
embodied in the poem “Geology of
Home,” which connects “the abstract

8

instructor’s latest book of poetry: The Song Collides

   

flavour of a place” —the visual physical
details of an environment—like “a carpet/
of hemlock needles, lacy fans/from cedar
branches spread like doilies” with the
human aspects of an environment, the
“Voices that sing or speak or laugh /
argument and agreement both” — what

is seen and heard and felt create a multi-
dimensional portrait of the narrator’s
scene.

In a similar way “2 West: Palliative
Care” subtly captures the reality of living
and loving other people—a theme which
peppers many of the poems throughout
The Song Collides. Specifically, “2 West:

Palliative Care” addresses the interplay of

life and, ultimately, death of those we love
without resorting to melodrama; in this
way, the poem leaves the reader feeling a
deep emotional impact. Speaking of the
loss of a mother, the speaker muses:

so, as with every death, the end of a
dialogue,

this one, though,

the longest conversation of my life
incomplete, left hanging.

Taken as a whole, Wharton’s
collection is expressive, often funny, and
overwhelmingly honest. Like a favourite
song, the poems in The Song Collides beg
to be re-played over and over on a balmy
summer evening, while you casually
consider the impact of your existence.

   
 

 

God of thunder and hammer and wormhole

   

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Reviewer

radually, “The Avenger initiative”
(Gz into what should be

one of the biggest film events
of 2012. Only three years ago, the idea
of such a thing was almost laughable.
Hundreds of millions of dollars invested
in “smaller” works that potentially
lead up to a much larger picture. Now
in present day, the unthinkable has
happened; I’m reviewing a movie about
the comic book character Thor—stage
three of the initiative.

Thor opens in a New Mexico desert
where the scientific team of Jane Foster
(Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan
Skarsgard), and Darcy Lewis (Kat
Dennings) are studying a strange weather
occurrence. The occurrence is revealed
to be a wormhole-like bridge from which
otherworldly beings travel. These beings
include Thor (Chris Hemsworth)-and
his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), sons
of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), King of
the realm of Asgard. With their band of
merry men, Thor and, to a lesser extent
Loki, travel to the realm of the Frost
Giants to wage war. Odin, disgusted with
Thor’s bloodlust, strips him of his-mighty
powers and banishes him to Earth. As
war threatens Asgard, Thor, with the help
of the three Earthlings, must regain his
powers and return home once more.

Not to appear closed-minded, but
my only interest in seeing Thor came
from positive word of mouth. Although
Thor is indeed a fun multi-dimensional
adventure, it’s nothing special. The
first fifteen minutes or so are the most
painful. Each on-screen character
gets a five second introduction that
we’re just supposed to roll with. Thor
introduces each of his four friends with,
“Hey, remember the time when-‘. No,

I don’t, because everything Thor says
is exposition and could just be tales of

It’s no Ironman, but it’s a step up from Ironman 2

LARPing for all I care. Then we have
Dennings; Dennings is the cute college
student who thinks she’s funny, but really
needs to have her head smeared across the
pavement. What’s great about both these
things is that they eventually disappear;
the writers just seem to forget Dennings
exists, and the pacing evens out.

Director Kenneth Branagh, however,
has a long history with Shakespearian
plays and films. So when drama occurs
in the lives of Thor’s family or newfound
friends, it’s actually intriguing. Loki is
apparently a mythological trickster, but
his character comes across as largely
sympathetic. Portman and Hemsworth,
against all odds, have incredible
chemistry together. The biggest surprise
(and relief) for me, though, came when
virtually every joke not told by Dennings
was actually great.

There’s a particular style with just
about every Marvel film. Bright colours,
weird (often unnecessary) camera angles,
quick cuts and edits, and an almost
desperate yearning to be funny. Thus,
even the best of Marvel-based movies
end up feeling like they’re panhandling to
kids. At its best, this creates a connection
within the Marvel universe; at its worse,
it feels like I’m having sugar injected into
my veins. With all this in mind, Thor is
no exception; the most annoying camera
angles are reminiscent of Battlefield Earth
(2000), so have fun with that.

All in all, Thor should be a fun ride
for just about anybody. Do yourselves
a favour though, please see this movie
in 2D; there’re no gimmicks, it’s a 2D
movie, so pay $12.50 instead of $17.50
(yeah, it’s $17.50 now).

Thor was released across North

America on May 6, 2011.
3.5/5