{"id":10197,"date":"2013-12-19T16:44:28","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T11:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/entirely-askew-jamie-sharpes-animal-husbandry-today\/"},"modified":"2023-02-15T03:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T22:30:28","slug":"entirely-askew-jamie-sharpes-animal-husbandry-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/editorials\/entirely-askew-jamie-sharpes-animal-husbandry-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Entirely Askew: Jamie Sharpe\u2019s Animal Husbandry Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

This review also appears in Arc 72<\/em>, The North. See our print issue for further reviews of great books, along with scintillating poetry, thought-provoking essays and more.<\/h2>\n

\"Jamie<\/a><\/p>\n

Jamie Sharpe. Animal Husbandry<\/em> Today<\/em>. Toronto: ECW Press, 2012.
\n~Reviewed by rob mclennan
\nWhitehorse poet Jamie Sharpe\u2019s first trade poetry collection, Animal Husbandry Today<\/em>, reveals lyric metaphor with a wry eye leaning toward the narrative\u2014and the slightly absurd. For instance, as he writes to open the poem \u201cInterview Questions for Nils Luzak, \/ Classical Pianist\u201d:<\/p>\n

What makes us hate
\npiano tuners?
\nTheir jealous eyes?<\/p>\n

You ever allegro your father?<\/p>\n

As much a collage as a collection, Animal Husbandry<\/em> is an assembly of stand-alone pieces gathered as a unit in a self-aware mix of styles, shapes, and forms. Sharpe is struck by the physical, and some of the pieces here carry the strength of blunt objects, often swung with more force than might be necessary. Other lines simply fall flat, adding little to the conversation, such as the opening to the poem \u201cF\u00f6rarbete\u201d:<\/p>\n

After the container,
\nhow to recognize
\nthe content \u2013
\neasily cast,
\nalways held \u2013
\nif not inscribed upon?<\/p>\n

His subject matter is as varied as his forms and he writes about everything from various family members\u2019 lives to cultural references both current and nearly antiquated. How many contemporary poets are still referencing Georges Braque, Brahms, Tom Stoppard, mixed tapes, or Ronald Reagan? It is almost as though he keeps one foot hopping between other ages and is somehow able to bring older references forward and engage with them meaningfully enough that they enter the contemporary. There is an enormous sense of intellectual play here, with poem titles including \u201cKeep Calm and Carry On,\u201d \u201cAllow Me to Be Terrified of Myself,\u201d \u201cWesterns as an Allegory Of,\u201d and \u201cWhen Nancy Reagan Recommends the Crab Salad.\u201d Sharpe\u2019s poems deliberately trouble the narrative lyric, twist the direction of meanings, and turn expectations of intention entirely askew. Akin to recent works by his ECW compatriots Michael Knox and Jacob Scheier, Sharpe\u2019s Animal Husbandry Today<\/em> is a book of poems that explores ideas, the sharpest of which read as short narrative essays, slightly reminiscent of Anne Carson\u2019s Short Talks<\/em> (1992). At the same time, the m\u00e9lange of poems that fall between the hundred-plus pages of Sharpe\u2019s first published collection are a range of quality and occasionally give the impression of firing wildly towards a particular target just to see what might actually strike. What intrigues about this collection is seeing the number of poems that really do work and wanting to see what might become of his poetry after this first collection is behind him and he is able to further hone some of his obvious skill into whatever might follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

rob mclennan<\/strong> is the author of more than 20 trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, including the poetry collections Songs for little sleep<\/em>, (Obvious Epiphanies, 2012) and grief notes<\/em>: (BlazeVOX [books], 2012), and a second novel, missing persons<\/em> (2009). The Uncertainty Principle: stories<\/em> is scheduled to appear in spring 2014. robmclennan.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Arc<\/a>: a collage, a collection, a mix-tape of poetry.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This review also appears in Arc 72, The North. See our print issue for further reviews of great books, along with scintillating poetry, thought-provoking essays and more. Jamie Sharpe. Animal Husbandry Today. Toronto: ECW Press, 2012. ~Reviewed by rob mclennan Whitehorse poet Jamie Sharpe\u2019s first trade poetry collection, Animal Husbandry Today, reveals lyric metaphor with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"10202,10441,16691,10681","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2060,1881],"tags":[],"genre":[21],"publisher":[175],"issue":[54],"poet-in-residence":[],"series":[],"topic":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publisher?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"poet-in-residence","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poet-in-residence?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=10197"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=10197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}