How to Avoid Huge Ships

by Julie Bruck

Both "grave and brave, serious and hilarious" - new poems from a Governor General's Award?winning poet. How to Avoid Huge Ships , Julie Bruck's fourth collection of poetry, is a book of arguments and spells against the ambushes of age. This is, of course, a pointless exercise with a rich history. Bruck's new poems excavate a middle zone as old parents wither and regress, while the young declare their independence. Parents grow down, children up, and it's from the uncomfortable in-between that these poems peer into what Philip Larkin describes as "the long slide." But what if we haven't reached the end of the infinite adolescence we thought we'd been promised? We're still here in this world of flying ottomans, alongside a middle-schooler named Dow Jones, and the prehistoric miracle of a blue heron's foot. We may be afraid, but we're still amused - sometimes, even awed. Looking squarely at the way things are, glossing over none of the absurdities and injustices of contemporary life, Julie Bruck pays ardent attention to it all. This is a subtle art, restrained. Its power often lies in what is not said right out but which fires up in a reader. The touch is light, even when the subject is heavy. One has a steady sense of being trusted to catch and feel the intangible muchness housed in deceptively plain poems. "She is the poet laureate of aftermath, of what we do in the wake of things. She picks up the broken pieces of what's left, and these she patches together, as she can, into beautifully-wrought poems that bear eloquent witness to what remains." - Seán Kennedy "Alert and precise, perceptive and measured, Julie Bruck's poems calibrate situations both grave and brave, serious and hilarious, whilst avoiding the 'large ships' of heavy-handed conclusion. Here are genuine smarts, mature talent, and a wide-angle vision." - Sharon Thesen

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 3 out of 5]

In lieu of faith, there were books
As my mother lay dying I looked
things up

I believe this is a quote from one of the poems, maybe two.
I was so disturbed by this book that my notes are sketchy.
I thought of reading to my mother as she lay dying. The words and the spaces between us.

each of us dragging our own conclusions
like wet cement p19

Julie Bricks careful placement of words may give her the navigational skills she requires, but the destination is over the horizon. We can't avoid the menacing shadows of the huge ships entirely as they loom suddenly out of the mist.

[Lynn Tait · Rating 5 out of 5]

A joyful read. Great writing and subject matter. Clever humour. Loved every minute of it. The book sparkles!

[Kathy Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are new to poetry, Julie Bruck's book "How To Avoid Huge Ships" is a good place to start. Bruck builds meaning with each line break and bit of punctuation, doubling and redoubling significance: "As my mother kept dying, I looked / things up, assembling a glossary / of hopeless causes...". The subjects are classic as well: family, death, those daily moments that matter in ways made clear only after contemplation and the work of creation -- what Wordsworth called "emotion recollected in tranquility.

[Melinda Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: If you read this when you're younger than middle-aged it will contain major life spoilers. These poems are a map for sailing into our next phases of life without sinking, but perhaps not avoiding those huge ships. They're huge after all. This a book to buy and keep. Recommend, but don't lend it out because there will be days, long days that seep into longer nights, that you find you will need to pick this up again.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these smart, thoughtful, dryly funny poems.

[Jessie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling and personal

[Kira Godley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those rare books I think I will remember for the rest of my life, and one that I will surely keep coming back to.