Discorder Review
 
The Chick at the Back of the Church by Billie Livingston Reviewed by Doretta Lau September 12, 2001 Billie Livingston, a member of the Seven Sisters Writing Group, crafts the kind of poetry that I like: straightforward verse about life, without pastoral bullshit and tired metaphors. Give me a poem about a childhood crush on hippie girl next door over a poem abut the orgasmic feeling that a natural landscape brings on, anytime. The Chick at the Back of the Church is Livingston’s first collection of poetry, and has been in the works since 1992. It is an unpretentious book that can be read in one sitting without headache or hate. More importantly, there’s something good and dirty about Livingston’s writing, which centers on the relationship of the self to loved and unloved ones. Her verse is city-wise. It’s the chick at the back of the church hinting at sex and only half-heartedly repenting for it. I hate the terms “gritty” and “urban” (you may as well write that something is “shitty” and “urbane”), but if you want some generic terms to get our footing because you don’t really have an interest in poetry, I’m throwing them at you now. I hate the term “vintage” even more but there’s nothing about The Chick at the Back of the Church that could be described in such a way because it’s modern in its subject matter and cadence. In one of my favourite poems in the book, Livingston takes a humorous shot at Charles Bukowski. In another, she deals with a physiotherapist visit and bad underwear. The everyday mundane is extraordinary here and the everyday problem has apocalyptic overtones. These poems are good, and there isn’t a single gardenia or lonely wandering cloud in sight.