13 January 2009—Winnipeg, Manitoba

A spirited book review by Adelia Neufeld Wiens, Coordinator of Student Advising at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, appears in the December 2008 (Vol. XXXIV, No.4) of the Mennonite Historian. Here’s the review in full…

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Sam Reimer was born in Steinbach in 1949, lived in Kansas from the age of 15 till early adulthood, and then settled in Vancouver where he remains. This lovely book reflects a lifetime of writing and polishing by an eccentric, delightful poet and artist.

Reimer describes the contents thus: ”Some are autobiographical, some fictitious, some more serious, some angrier, some more sorrowful than others—ranging from the profane to the sacred, and en masse erring on the side of oddness.” I appreciate the summary except for the reference to “oddness.” Some of these poems are quirky, maybe, but if this is odd, then the world has worn me down and I just don’t see it!

Everything in this volume is burnished, from the charming introduction by Robert L. Peters to the biography and colophon at the end. This book will delight many, both those on the edge of faith and those in its warm, comfortable middle.

Divided into “chapters” with titles such as “Backroads Magic,” “Anarchies of Love,” and “Jesus Chrystals,” the poems are easy to read and wonderful to savour.

There are surprises. The art and graphic design complements the text, and sometimes enchants. On one page, I read the poem and then looked again. Printed on an angle, in lightly screened large font are these words: “To treat a man as a beast in a cage/serves only a greater beast to enrage.” An explanation follows: “This couplet got me disqualified from jury duty, among some other lines.” I could have so easily missed this!

Reimer’s observations of nature offers wonderful descriptions. “Impression: Along Molson Way,” concludes Give the earth a crack at the city/ & gardens grow in gangs,/daisies/ & morning-glories run in packs.

His descriptions of places and feelings are evocative. In “Dunster Sketch,” calligraphies/ from the moon/ shine blue-/ white with tall/ dark silhouettes/ poised for dancing/ against the sky/ across the snowdrift floor/ Bluejay night broods mellow/ moods in the valley.

Reimer is divorced. His pain at that is expressed in several poems, including “Liz Lost:” & where are you/ my shadow love/ my ring around the/ dark side of the moon you

There is haiku: Japanese woman/ in her early twenties a/ blossom breeze passing

And there is faith. Reimer’s metaphor for faith “Holding Patterns” concludes But we’re in a holding/ pattern, symmetrical, safe,/ & our pilot sees in more/ than a few dimensions,/ has eyes in his palms,/ radar under his hat,/ & when we land we’ll get to/ shake his hand & ask/ Him how it really went.

This small volume is a treasure. Reimer has been playing with words since he discovered Shakespeare as a child, and we are fortunate that this collection has finally been published.

“Within Word-Within-World Play” sums it all up:

As the work of poetry
Began with word-play so the humdrum-drudgery of editing
Must be made palatably entertaining
Ending finally as it began
Within
Word-Within-World Play

Read this and enjoy. Words. Play. World.

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(Thanks to Dr. Lawrence Klippenstein).