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Editor's Note: This book is actually about three years old, but because someone took
the time to send it to us, we're going to review it. So there.
The Windsor Salt collects artwork and writings from a variety of Windsor's
creative folks. I've seen the idea of a "scene" compilation used several times
for musicians, so I don't know why it never occurred to me that you could do
the same thing for other media. I guess those Canadians showed me!
While I have never really thought of Windsor as a, well, as
anything, I am impressed by the variety of styles presented here.
The artwork runs from photography to collage to cartoons both humorous and
horrific. Similarly, the text encompasses both poetry and prose. Of the
visual art, because of the context, I find those pieces which combine
figures with lettering to be the most interesting. In particular, Gustave
Morin's "Clang!" and "Concrete Salt Lick" are evocative, powerful images
that demand closer inspection. The hateful anti-hate comic "Cheese Boy",
by George Rizok, also inhabits the middle ground between writing and visual
art, although I find its story to be a bit of a one-liner.
On the whole, the poetry did not set me on fire. I have to confess,
however, that I'm not much of a poetry person, so perhaps my opinion on
this count shouldn't mean much. Thankfully, the authors avoid the "ABAB"
cliches, but they still leave me a bit cold. Only J.C. Hyatt's spare
"Untitled" really stuck with me:
Someone
gave me a polished stone
to calm me
when I'm feeling paranoid
but I think its been bugged
& keep it in the other room.
Again, there were some nice moments here and there, but overall, nothing
really took hold of me. While the poetry did not do much to impress me,
several pieces of the prose did. In articular, the sad ache of Matthew
Firth's "Kiss My Wife" left me a touch melancholy for days.
If the contents are interesting, the only other question to ask is whether
the collection achieves its goal. On one hand, it does a fine job of
providing some much needed exposure for several unknown talents. On the
other, the collection did not provide me with any great insight into the
Windsor scene. Sure, now when I think of Windsor I think of something,
but The Windsor Salt does not have a strong enough focus for that image
to be well-defined. In a sense, this is to the contributors' credit, for
they are all able to express a unique voice -- but if the idea was to
promote Windsor as a whole, I'm not sure they succeeded. In any case,
The Windsor Salt contains several spicy pieces. With enough
material to pass a couple of sunny afternoons, this book makes an
entertaining read, even if it doesn't provide a definitive characterization
of Canada's leading salt exporter.
-- Ron Davies
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