Fallout: Poems

by Sandra Ridley

Fallout embraces the darkness of the 20th century in poems that inhabit both the fear and wonder of that time. On the surface Fallout appears to be about the legacy of the nuclear age yet Ridley writes with a subversive humour that counters the fierceness of her subject. In her world madness intrudes upon the mundane as a Nevada casino shakes during a "test", a white train rumbles through the night transporting nuclear weapons and a couple takes up residence in a vacant nuclear weapons silo.Ridley's poems veer from the terrifying to the tender, the comic and the apocalyptic, the ironic to the philosophical, and the cosmic to the domestic-- often within the same poem. This is an energetic and entertaining new voice in Canadian poetry both insightful and playful by turns. At the heart of the book is an elegiac tone that points to a more hopeful future. The book ends with an award winning sequence of ghazals written about the death of a young sister that leaves the reader breathless.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2010

Reviews

[Anne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bumped this up from a 4 because of the series of ghazals, which were poignant and haunting. This is a solidly written book of poetry that will probably always have a place in my heart. 4.5 stars

[Josh Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read while on the streetcars and subways of Toronto, only to feel longing for the great wilderness in Ridley’s book of poems. Prose through sepia film, inventive wordplay regarding the nuclear bomb and testing, and a wonderful tribute to the author’s late sister. Very nice; will leave at a Free Library for others.

[Michelle Robert]

Read for class

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Coach Road is still lodged in my memory. The work is dark, its nuclear energy stirring behind every word. Ridley is a unique new voice in Canadian poetry. Elegies abound, if not always in form, at least in feeling, for in many cases someone or something has reached the terminus.