This collection’s title, a nod to Marian Engel’s Bear, is
both a playful observation and hilarious declaration. Holbrook provides
a great reminder that poetry is supposed to be fun and fun to read—a
professor of literature and creative writing at University of Windsor,
she sends up her occupation in “Textbook Case: Questions to Consider
Regarding Our Last Phone Call.” A simple series of questions posed with
a mix of professorial authority and regret over a conversation with a
partner gone wrong, it’s like an assignment to herself. It’s one of the
best poems in this volume of varied form and subject.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2009.