May 10th — May 17th, 2001

 

 

The Chick at the Back of the Church

by Billie Livingston

Nightwood Editions, Harbour Publishing

$16.95

 

If you judge Vancouver Poet Billie Livingston by the company she creates -- and tell me why you'd do a daft thing like that -- you'll probably figure she's a hard-as-nails, white trash diva. Sure, there are kids on the lam from the Children's Aid, women living at the Y, and alkie moms sipping from bottomless coffee cups. Sure, there are mistakes, oh so many mistakes. But go deeper. Livingston buffs the strength of her characters with the strength of her lines: "Nothing personal--/you're just too flimsy/ to lie heavy down the length of me/keep the edges from curling/and hold my oragami heart/under the fold." A powerful debut collection, The Chick at the Back of the Church (Harbour Publishing, $16.95) tears through memory, long legs flashing, dust aflyin'.