Thursday , March 28 2024
Pictures and words combine to speak volumes to any willing to listen

Book Review: ‘Spirit Quest’ by Bob Mackenzie and Sharlena Wood

Over the years humanity’s relationship with nature has become sort of twisted. On the one hand we admire the beauty of a spectacular sunset or soaring mountains, yet we also think nothing of destroying the atmosphere with poison gases or the water table with toxic waste. Further distorting our view of the world around is how we’ve come to believe nature is okay as long as it knows its place. Let it interfere with our lives though, and all of a sudden it becomes an act of God or some sort of natural disaster. When did we become so self-centred as to believe tornadoes, earthquakes, and tidal waves are something to be taken personally? These storms would have happened regardless of our presence.

To be able to see nature as something which exists as independent of humanity is not something many of us are able to accomplish. One of the ways we have of bringing ourselves closer to nature is through the work of writers and artists. There’s something about seeing things through the lens provided by somebody else’s work that gives us a clearer perspective on the world we live in.
Cover Spirit Quest
The new book Spirit Quest, published by Dark Matter Press, from poet Bob Mackenzie and visual artist Sharlena Wood, is a fine example of how the arts can give us a new appreciation of the natural world. The two artists have created a series of complimentary works; Mackenzie’s poems recount visits to Canada’s Rocky Mountains in Western Canada he took as a child, while Wood’s paintings bring the passion and wildness of the region to life.

Wood has not attempted to illustrate Mackenzie’s poems. Instead, what she has done is provide us with images which capture nature’s untamed essence. In some ways they serve as contrasts to Mackenzie’s poems of the human experience of nature as seen from car windows, camp sites, and family vacations. It’s almost as if the two have combined to show us how the world looks from both perspectives. Mackenzie’s highly personal childhood remembrances, which say as much about the warmth of his family life growing up as they do about nature, are the ring side seat to the natural world while Wood pulls us right into the wild unchecked beauty which cares nothing for our opinions.

In his poems Mackenzie recreates the impressions of the Rocky Mountains he formed as a child through the filter of his adult memory and opinions. Remarkably he manages, after the passage of time and experiences, to still convey the sense of wonder and mystery they must have instilled in the younger version of himself. In “no visible means”, a poem describing mountain sheep’s apparent ability to defy gravity in clinging to mountain sides, we see a perfect example of a child’s awe filtered through the mind of an adult. “this space overtakes me/as no book ever can/here the gods can be felt/and I feel very small”.
Bob Mackenzie Poet
While the sentiments expressed are the amazement a child would feel at seeing the mountains and their sheer size, the vocabulary is decidedly adult. However, the combination of the two is highly effective as it allows us to remember the awe we felt as children when confronted with something beyond our comprehension. By showing us this world through the eyes of his younger self Mackenzie is able to depict nature as the raw force is can be. There’s never the impression that it was put there for his family’s enjoyment; it exists, is seen and described without editorializing or judgement.

The same can’t be said for the occasional outside interlopers into Mackenzie’s private world of family and nature. The occasional glimpse we receive of other humans isn’t exactly flattering. In the poem “Bears” he describes the interaction between the bears in Banff National Park in Alberta Canada. “tourists come here to meet bears/brown bears so cute in daylight/at night fear bears in the dark/approaching their lamp lit tents/bears are in the camp at dusk/stalk between tent and washrooms/watch campers creep out in fear/make shadow art with their paws”. The message we receive is that the majority of people seem to hold fast to the tried and true human opinion that nature is alright in its place, but it needs to know its place.
Sharlena Wood
As Mackenzie uses words to describe the world of the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to capture their magical and wild spirit, Wood’s visual creations for the book take us even further into the wild abandon of the region. From stark black and white images which express the power that can be found in the austerity of naked woods in winter to wild uncontrolled swirls of colour which wash across the eye, her work constantly reiterates the theme that nature exists for itself, not for our pleasure. There is a raw power to her work which sends shivers down one’s spine as it captures the naked energy of both the mountains and the land around them.

Anyone who has seen the Rocky Mountains anywhere in North America can’t help but be reminded of the fact we are only a small part of the world around us. Most of us go through our lives in a sort of un easy co-existence with the natural world. We live in controlled environments where the rains and winds are at most inconveniences to be avoided and wild life is limited to the birds and small animals in our backyards. Spirit Quest is a reminder that the natural world exists in of itself without care for our concerns or worries. We are all that small person Mackenzie describes in “no visible means” whether we know it or not.

The poems and art work in this book do a masterful job of bringing both the natural world and human interaction with it to life. By showing the world through the eyes of himself as a child poet Mackenzie helps us rediscover the awe it can inspire while Wood’s paintings remind us of its sheer unbridled power. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but on this occasion pictures and words have combined to create something which speaks volumes to any willing to listen.

 

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About Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of three books commissioned by Ulysses Press, "What Will Happen In Eragon IV?" (2009) and "The Unofficial Heroes Of Olympus Companion" and "Introduction to Greek Mythology For Kids". Aside from Blogcritics he contributes to Qantara.de and his work has appeared in the German edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and has been translated into numerous languages in multiple publications.

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