Review of Elephant Street

Elephant Street

Elephant Street is Ron Charach's seventh book of poetry. Originally from Winnipeg and now a psychiatrist practising in Toronto, Charach is, as a poet, a realist with an affinity for linear narrative line.

A typical first line--as in "Sprawled on a deck, eyeing the kids" ('Bully') or "As I kick through snowdrifts on the journey home ('Wandering Styrofoam')--is the setup for intelligent, sometimes wise, consistently accessible commentary on the human condition.


— Robert Moore Winnipeg Free Press

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Elephant Street

With a world on the bring of war and new threats of terrorism at home and abroad, it is no wonder that many are referring to this as the age of anxiety. Enter Elephant Street, a new collection of poetry by psychiatrist Ron Charach, a former Manitoban now living in Toronto.

"I had written a series of poems that dealt with existential anxiety that had a decidedly urban feel to them," says Charach, who specializes in the treatment of adolescents.

"It occured to me that these poems spoke to our post 9/11 age of anxiety and fear for our civil liberties. I began to rummage through my store of poems . . . for other works that were responses to anxiety, including those that dealt with the fears of aging and illness--the body's own versions of internal terrorism," said Charach.

Elephant Street is the seventh published collection of Charach's poetry. It explores the themes of urban restlessness, and fears arising from such complex issues as social class inequalities, society's overemphasis on appearance, and the ever-present specters of ill-health and death, whether by "natural" or terror-related causes.

Charach's previous collections of poetry demonstrate how successful he has been at blending medical themes into his poetry, epitomized by The Naked Physician: Poems about the Lives of Patients and Doctors. He draws from his background growing up in Winnipeg's legendary North End as well as his Jewish upbringing and heritage.

Despite a hective work schedule and involvement in several medical organizations, Charach tries to write every day.

"I write anywhere and everywhere, whenever the impulse strikes. It might be while taking the subway to and from work, while in the office during a no-show, or at home while my wife is working on her reasearch papers or my teenagers are at their respective band practices or part-time jobs," he says.

"A hastily scribbled first draft on a Post-It note while I stop dead in my tracks on teh way home may wind up as the first or last line of a peom. Restaurant napkins occasionally get recruited for such purposes."


— Robyn Maharaj NOW Magazine

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