13th Canadian Challenge - 10th Review - Riffs

I'm in a bit of a groove now, so I'll riff a bit on this book and move on.  Dennis Lee is quite an important poet, though one that doesn't get a lot of attention outside of Canada.  Several years back I reviewed Civil Elegies, which is likely his most sustained attempt at engaging with the urban condition.  I admire a lot about Civil Elegies, though I still haven't read it enough times for it to really stick, and I'll have to reread it again soon.  I had actually expected to review Heart Residence, a collected poems that incorporates Civil Elegies, Riffs, most of his poetry aimed at children and some other poetic suites.  However, I made it through Riffs and paused (and I have yet to restart), though I suppose there is always the next Challenge.  At any rate, I wasn't able to get the signed copy of Heart Residence I had wanted, so I ended up ordering a standalone (signed) copy of Riffs, and I'll go ahead and review that now.

I did not carefully compare the revised version of Riffs in Heart Residence to this edition, but I did flip through them both looking for major changes.  I did catch that Riff #86 was completely replaced with a new riff in Heart Residence, but otherwise the changes seemed fairly minor.

Anyway, there are 88 poems (riffs) in the collection, which is supposed to correspond with the 88 keys of a piano.  Overall these poems could be read as jazz-infused lyrics (and occasionally blues-soaked laments) as the poet relates his falling in love with a woman.  Lee doesn't really hold back, alternating poems where he is infatuated and disenchanted, based on what has been going on in this (now highly public) love affair.  Given that these poems are dedicated to his wife, Susan, and that he is still married to her, roughly 15 years later at the time of the publication of Heart Residence, then she is particularly forgiving and/or generous to allow some of these poems into print.  (While there is a disclaimer that Riffs is a work of fiction, I don't think anyone really believes those legal fig leafs, particularly in the case of confessional or semi-confessional poets).  In this specific case, I am thinking of Riff #70 where the poet is bitterly raging after some rejection: "but you know I / never did like your body, / never those porridge thighs the spider crawl around your eyes".

Again, keeping legal disclaimers in mind, the poet appears to be separated from his wife or partner and has "kids" who don't really make an appearance in these poems.  However, the object of his infatuation is married, which certainly complicates matters and sends him into these almost manic phases of joy and despondency, depending on how far he thinks he can go with her (which is often quite far indeed).  Generally, the poet doesn't spend too much time thinking about the morality of adultery, but it does surface in Riffs #55 and 56.  In Riff #55, he writes "I am so utterly / tired of this slimy ribbon of / lies, wound round my / head, my / shame my / too-long life to come..."

After what appears to be a final break (recounted in Riff #77), the poet is despondent, just barely hanging on in Riff #80 and going through the motions in Riff #81: "Get up eat fruit brew coffee, / do work see friends lie down."

Then a reconciliation occurs, but the poet is coy who initiated it.  And before you know it, they are a couple of sorts in Riff #87: "And / then we were home. / Our / breath bunched, the shudder-us / twined-of / (and if the) desire and the / planet / go on ...".  The ending is essentially suspended, but it seems that (adulterous) love has triumphed in a somewhat contingent way, but still hanging in there as the series closes.

This is definitely an interesting collection.  It is not by any stretch as deep as Civil Elegies, but still worth reading and pondering.