And the cat says... - Susan L. Helwig (Quattro Books)

Today's book of poetry:
And the cat says...  Susan L. Helwig.  Quattro Books.  Toronto, Ontario.  2013.

Any of you who truly know Today's book of poetry will know our true feelings about cats, so you can imagine with what trepidation we opened Susan L. Helwig's little marvel And the cat says... .  What we found were poems like "Letter to Philip Roth" and the extemporaneous explanation of the connection between eggplants and love.

And the cat says... is a cornucopia of entertainments.  Helwig has found a comfortable spot with enough humour and pathos to suit her sly needs.  It's like she has them tied together at the waist and and knee and this book is the dazzling three legged sprint.

Original Sin

The Bible got it wrong

it wasn't an apple that Eve ate

no apple spurted bright thick juice

stained her chin

made her breasts glisten

It was a tomato

Listen

What virgin bride in the Old Country

did not thank a tomato

hiding where the hymen used to be

for the groom's prideful groans

and carmine sheets in the morning?

when a mob spews anger

it's tomatoes that shout Revolution!

Tomatoes made the sauce in Little Italy

when young Corleone shot the Chief

no apple caused that amount of trouble, ever.

Why just the other day, dining el fresco

I planned a sensible order, salad, dressing on the side

vegetables in season

when the sun caught the ketchup on someone else's fries

I swear that red stuff winked at me

two shades off ruby.

...

Today's book of poetry wouldn't call Helwig bawdy, that would be less a compliment than a snide remark.  Helwig isn't bawdy but she is delightfully frank.  

My wife has a coterie of amazing female friends called "The Nasty Girls" (apologies to recent news cycles but my wife's friends coined this term for their tribe over a quarter of a century ago), women of sardonic wit and relentless humour and all of it tinged with their many years of life experience wisdom.  Their motto, if they had such a thing, could easily be "no bullshit allowed" and I'm convinced that they would welcome Susan L. Helwig into their fold as one of their own.

Da Capo, with repeats

Hard to do with a partner

what I've done alone for so long

the breathing, the rhythm

everything throws me

we start, we stop, soft laughter

high-pitched nerves

Underway again

he has a man's love of speed

I was thinking adagio, with no strings

and presto! here we are at the end

Perhaps a different position

if I were the one erect

bowing the violin in long caresses

and he sat at my piano

tickling the ivories

Afterwards, neither asks, how was it for you?

knowing full well which bars

were peppered with mistakes

the music doesn't lie

all we can hope is same time next week

another chance to come together.

...

Today's book of poetry is impressed by how tidily Helwig is able to keep her business.  These poems can be ribald but they're never rude, they are experienced but not tired, wise without the tiresome burden of wisecracks.  Today's book of poetry liked Susan L. Helwig's style.

Our morning read welcomed a couple of guests this morning and as you all know by now - everyone present has to read at the morning go round.  Dexter read a few in his slow and quiet loquacious fashion, then our friend Sara teased some sorrowful music out of one or two and some belly-laughs out of few more.  Our regular staff were inspired by our guests and upped their game.  And the cat says... sounded like the life of the party.

Now that we two love again

The world glows peppermint, rain-washed, new

and we can dally in a house the size of April

without the hurry-up of student sex

the roommate back from class too soon

now Marsalis, not Mingus, warms our tea

Out the window and down the street

the Salvation Army band, its jolly tuba

leads the parade

Later in the garden, grandchildren, yours

will make their shrieks and finds,

the softly tinted Easter eggs I hid last night

adobe cream and evergreen mist

the chocolate bunnies, bittersweet.

...

Today's book of poetry appreciates his job more every day - books like Susan L. Helwig's And the cat says... make it so.  Helwig has poems that ask important questions, laments about love and social issues and so on but mostly Today's book of poetry sees books like this as reportage from the generous heart and inquiring mind of another traveller.

No cats were harmed in the production of this blog.

Susan L. Helwig

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan L. Helwig grew up on a dairy farm in southwestern Ontario just outside of Neustadt. From 1994 to 2002 she interviewed Canadian and international authors for the radio programme “In Other Words” on CKLN 88.1. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies in Canada and abroad, and she has two previous poetry collections: Catch the Sweet (Seraphim Editions, 2001) and Pink Purse Girl (Wolsak and Wynn, 2006).

BLURB

Delicious.  Entertaining.  Susan L. Helwig's And the cat says... (her best collection so far), is so readable it makes poetry seem like a naughty pleasure.

     -  David Gilmour

quattrobooks.ca

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