TBC: Goalie

When it comes to school, there are always going to be classes that are more favoured by students than others. One class that seems to polarize students is English, and I am in the camp that always liked English. I enjoyed reading the classics and some very interesting literary works, but I'll fully admit that poetry was not something I spent a lot of time learning. In saying that, I was contacted about reviewing a new publication of poems about hockey, and this opportunity to jump back into something I never really appreciated was one to which I couldn't say no. As such, Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Goalie, written by Ben von Jagow and published by Guernica Editions Inc. Ben is an award-winning writer and poet, and his collection of poems takes us down a number of paths as a young netminder grows up, finds his way, and reflects on a career that's more than stopping pucks!

Ben was named to the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlist, and here's the biography they gave him, writing, "Ben von Jagow is a writer and poet from Stittsville, Ont. who currently lives in Stockholm. He is a graduate of Western University and has had work featured in literary journals such as The Antigonish Review, Amsterdam Quarterly, Marathon Literary Review, The Stockholm Review of Literature and The Literary Review of Canada." What they left out is that Ben won the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize, and he has collected a handful of other awards for writing as well. He has also published one other book, Grade Grub & Other Stories, enjoys photography, and he is a professional American football player in Europe. You can find out more and read about Ben's other works on his website found here.

Before I begin this review of Goalie, I want to make something clear: I am not well-versed in poetry. I know what an iambic pentameter is thanks to Shakespeare. I understand the structure of a haiku. I know what a limerick, an ode, and a sonnet are, but there is so much more I don't know about poetry than what I know. Being that most hockey books found on Teebz's Book Club are biographical in some way, adding a book of poetry about the game will be a first. On that note, remember that this review is going to be more about the substance of the poetry rather than poetic writing and formats itself. Ok? Ok.

As I turned the pages of Goalie, it quickly became apparent to me that Mr. von Jagow had a deep understanding of hockey on an intimate level. From running down the halls of hotels as kids during tournaments far from home to the brtual physical play of junior hockey, from landing in Europe to backstop a team to becoming the grizzled veteran in the twilight of his career, it's clear that Mr. von Jagow has either played at these levels or has witnessed or heard stories of someone who has gone through these stages of a career.

What makes the individual poems within the covers of Goalie so good are the details he works into each of the poems. These poems aren't just about making saves and the play on the ice; rather, Mr. von Jagow brings the experiences in each poem to life with his words. Whether it be at a grade school dance from the narrator's perspective or having the goaltender narrate an opponent breaking in from center ice in an attempt to win a shootout, the detail and descriptions that go into each poem are powerful and vibrant, making these moments experienced by the goalie all the more real.

To give you an idea of just how good Mr. von Jagow's descriptions are when illustrating the narrator's point of view, here's a stanza from Welcome to Deutschland, one of the 31 poems found in Goalie.

Perilli takes his time skating in.
There's a poise in his stride, something to distrust.
He cradles the puck to some internal rhythm,
biding his time in a game of chicken.
He's in close, and I almost fret, but their goalie bites -
big mistake - tries to poke check.
Perilli pulls it from the flailing stick
like a broom on hardwood,
rolls to the backhand and tucks the puck
over the goalie's right shoulder.
The red light flashes - pause - then the cheer.
Like a discharge.
Perilli curls around and punches the sky.
The gesture speaks volumes, shakes the monkey
right off his back.

That might be the most poetic description of a shootout goal that I've ever read, but you can almost see Perilli breaking in on the goaltender who attempts a pokecheck, only to see Perilli pull the puck from the poke and go backhand over the goalie's shoulder. Frankly, I just recapped what Mr. von Jagow wrote, only his version sounds so much better than mine! That's the kind of quality writing and detail you'll find in all 31 poems found in Goalie.

For those hoping for a more expert opinion on the structure of the poems found in Goalie, I'll leave that to a far more educated person than I in poetry. I can say that some poems flowed a little easier based on how the poems were structured while others were written to feel more staccato and some felt more stream-of-consciousness. What links them all together is the life if a goaltender that has lived in a number of places and experienced so many things. Based on Mr. von Jagow's work in Goalie, I'm glad he told this story from start to finish as the goalie who lived these experiences.

Overall, Goalie is a very easy read thanks to having the poems span no more than a few pages. The 80-page book has 31 poems, as stated, but once you start reading the poems and realize that Mr. von Jagow is telling the story of the goalie's career, it's hard to put the book down. Again, I'm no poetry aficionado, but the structure and writing won't trip anyone up as they go through each poem highlighting a moment in the goalie's career. Because of Mr. von Jagow's excellent descriptive and detailed writing and his strong storytelling, Goalie earns the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

I should note that I received an advanced copy of Goalie as it won't arrive on shelves until April 1. That being said, if you're a fan of poetry, you'll probably like this. If you want a different type of hockey book with some great writing, this meets that criteria. There is some choice language in a few of the poems that isn't suitable for children, but I'm not sure they would appreciate the poetic nature of the stories. As such, I recommend Goalie for teens and older readers, and here's hoping this book of poems isn't the last hockey-related material, whether poetic or prose, that Mr. von Jagow writes!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!