Brownies hopping around toadstools, punk-rock attitudes, teen pregnancies and crappy jobs in the service industry, does any of that sound familiar? Of course it does. It’s suburbia. Elizabeth Bachinsky’s new collection of poetry Home of Sudden Service explores the intimate details that make a small town small. Bachinsky’s collection includes poems written in the voice of adolescent girls, some looking forward to bigger and better things, as in “For the Pageant Girls: Miss Teen Motel 6, et al” and others relishing in their own small town family lives, complete with boyfriend and baby. The book concludes with a fifteen segment poem of a road trip across Canada with Bachinsky’s sister.

Bachinsky’s poems have energy, with lines jumping out and forcing you to listen to whatever she wants to say. Most of the work is short and immediate, the effect being like a juicy piece of gossip. What is so intriguing about her poems is that they are written about everyday events in a straightforward narrative voice. As a result, she presents a collection that feels truthful, real and spontaneous. Home of Sudden Service is a book of poems that will make you smile and critically think about life in suburbia, a place where many of us live out everyday life as well.

JIVE Magazine Rating: 5 Brownie toadstools out of 5.

About the Author: Elizabeth Bachinsky lives and works in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the poetry editor for Event magazine. Her book Home of Sudden Service has been short-listed for the prestigious 2006 Governor General’s award for poetry.

Nightwood Editions

Elizabeth Bachinsky