Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Elegant Elephant

Taking some time to read some of the chapbook pile before the September crunch begins again. One of the most pleasant surprises has been Jason Heroux’s Unfinished Elephant, published by In Case of Emergency Press. As expected from past experience, it is a beautifully designed and produced chapbook, and Heroux’s contemporary Surrealism is of the Steve Venright school with an added lyric sheen. Most enjoyable is Heroux’s use of metaphor and simile – some of the most surprising, yet completely appropriate, comparative images I’ve come across in a long time. Two favourites: “The moon hangs in the sky like a silver medal, as if the world won second prize in a contest” and “the rain puddles open for business/ like pawnshops selling little pieces of sky.”