(Mostly) Anonymous in Inner Space

All of the ancestors have returned and are living quiet lives in Inner Space.  

Choirs will fall silent, money will be thrown into the streets, and everywhere people will wonder what this dream was all about.

I was not cut out for childhood, I was already living part-time in Inner Space.

How can poets write anything without going down the spiral staircase to the darkness below?

I needed so many years to accomplish so little.

I'm back living at the Yew Tree Inn; nothing has changed, there is a Yew tree outside my window and children playing by the old wishing well.

There were some people dressed in colourful outfits, meditating and praying in Inner Space; we threw them out.

I no longer care what poets have to say, not if it's just more of the same old avoidance of Inner Space.

None of this was invented by me. It is what I found in Inner Space.

I was absorbed into the universe by cosmic energy; there's no playing around in Inner Space.

And now I'm a broken wheel going nowhere.

It's not bleak here in Inner Space, it's just a habit of mind to say that life is meaningless.

I liked poets but when I arrived in Inner Space I found few had joined me there, they were too busy trying to make names for themselves.

Most poets have nothing I want or need, they are not crowbars prying open the unconscious mind. Poets need to be crowbars.

  

If a poet can't be a crowbar he can at least be a hammer. 

                                                                       

A.M. Klein's "Heirloom"

 

Map of Montreal from 1910

1.

Looking through an old notebook from 2010 I found a poem I had written about the poet A.M. Klein. Then I remembered that in my first book of poems, The Trees of Unknowing (1978), I had a poem entitled "Heirloom"; when I was young I had been very impressed with Klein's poem of the same title. I wondered when it was that I wrote "Heirloom", probably sometime in the early 1970s but I thought it was much earlier. Then I also remembered that Sandra Goodwin, Bill Goodwin's widow, had told me that she grew up near where Klein lived; that was before Klein became a recluse due to mental illness and she and the other children in the street would greet Klein by saying "Good morning, Maitre Klein" ("Maitre" being the formal way to address a lawyer or notary in Quebec). Sandra was married to Bill Goodwin who was Irving Layton's nephew and best friend for eighty years; I knew Bill because I taught in the same English Department as him and when he retired he said he had retired so I could hold on to my job. Anyhow, I wondered where Klein had lived, I found two addresses in Lovell's Montreal City Directory, one on Clarke (in the Mile End neighbourhood) and one on Querbes in Outremont. The address on Querbes says his employment was as "Public relations counsellor Seagram's"; the Bronfmans certainly supported Klein, they were wonderful patrons of the arts. I taught Klein's "Heirloom" poem for many years; one day I reread my own "Heirloom" poem, it is almost an embarrassment when compared to Klein's.

2.

That generation of poets, Layton, Dudek, Smith, Scott, Klein, welcomed young poets, after all,  who would want to be a poet? Bill Goodwin was Irving Layton's nephew but they were more like brothers. My mother lived on Montclair Avenue and, on occasion, I used to see Bill walking along Monkland Avenue on his way to Irving Layton's home on Monkland; that was in the 1990s when Irving wasn't well and Bill and several others looked after him, it was before Irving entered Maimonides long term care residence. Bill was very kind to me in so many ways; one day, soon after my son was born in January 1979, he phoned to say that it was too cold to take a baby outside, as my wife and I had planned, and he was right. Whatever Bill taught it included poems by Irving Layton and every year he would have Irving in to the college to give a reading. Some times after the reading I would get a lift downtown with them. Poets, like Irving Layton and Louis Dudek, focused on the young, especially if they were poets, so while Irving was talking in the front seat of the car he'd turn around and include me in the conversation. He was always polite and considerate. He'd ask what I was writing and show some interest, despite his famous enormous ego he was also concerned with mentoring young poets; Layton was a natural teacher. But that's what the older poets were like, it wasn't all prizes and ego, they mentored younger poets; it was a small community and anyone wanting to be a poet was treated with some respect. I mention this as it is an heirloom from those days when poets were few but they were dedicated to the Muse and to the life of being a poet.

 

Leo Kennedy's "A Priest in the Family"

I've mentioned Leo Kennedy before, he was a member of the Montreal Group of poets back in the 1920s and '30s. Now we can add this short story to Kennedy's body of work; Kennedy's "A Priest in the Family" was first published in The Canadian Forum in 1933 but you can find it at archive dot org. The story was republished in 1972 by the Readers' Digest, in Great Stories of the World. Kennedy's story reminds me of short stories written by Morley Callaghan, but that's where the comparison ends.

Dr. Peter Kennedy, son of Leo Kennedy

I first heard of the poet Leo Kennedy from John McAuley when he read a poem about Kennedy at The Yellow Door Coffee House; if you check my page on YouTube you`ll find a video of John reading this poem. A few years later I read Patricia Morley`s biography of Kennedy, As Though Life Mattered (1994) and after that I read Leo Kennedy`s only book of poems, The Shrouding (1933; 1975). Kennedy, a member of the Montreal Group of poets, was an incredibly original and gifted poet back in the 1930s; he was also a talented advertising man, as were some other Montreal poets, for instance R.G. Everson and for a few years Louis Dudek. But there is a dark side to Leo Kennedy, it is his alcoholism. I don't think the extent of Kennedy's alcoholism is developed in Morley's book, after watching Madmen on TV it is obvious that drinking alcohol, lots of alcohol, was the way of life for men in advertising at least in the 1950s. So there you are, immensely creative, making a lot of money, and knowing you've sold out to the very businesses of which other poets are critical, no wonder Kennedy never wrote serious poetry after The Shrouding. I never approved of or possibly I never understood the title of Morley's biography of Leo Kennedy. Of course life matters, even the most negative poet affirms life just by the act of writing poems. Poets, medical doctors, and others believe life matters or else how can they continue in their profession? The answer is that Leo Kennedy didn't continue writing serious poetry. On the other hand, Leo Kennedy's son, Dr. Peter Kennedy, is an eminent physician living in the Los Angeles area. His book Medicine Man, Memoir of a Cancer Physician, is an affirmation of life, fulfilling one's destiny, and being of service to the community; these are all virtues to which Leo Kennedy should have paid more attention.

     

 

The following is the write-up on Amazon describing Dr. Kennedy's book:

Dr. Peter Kennedy, cum laude graduate of Harvard University and graduate with highest honors of Baylor Medical School, was formerly head of the Metropolitan Oncology Medical Group in Los Angeles. Dr. Kennedy describes his journey in medicine in his a medical memoir MEDICINE MAN: The Making of a Cancer Doctor.

Peter Kennedy wasn’t expected to live. Born premature with serious kidney defects, he seemed like a lost cause. Yet Kennedy survived, enduring multiple surgeries and going on to become a successful oncologist and medical researcher in the Los Angeles area.

The son of an Irish immigrant and a Jewish mother, both suffering from chemical dependencies, Kennedy grew up sickly in a tough Connecticut neighborhood. His transition to Minnesota athlete, leader, and outdoorsman during high school, and his acceptance at Harvard where he graduated with honors, was nothing less than miraculous. His success in medical school, and subsequent work as an instructor, scientist, medical researcher, and medical oncologist was the fulfillment of the American Dream.

Dr. Kennedy says, “Cancer currently strikes one in two men, and one in three women. It’s treated by ‘men in white coats’ which most people know only as fairly anonymous health providers. Over my career I’ve come to realize people need to understand that their doctors are people who have known strife, hardship, challenges. That we have different skill sets and varying approaches. Patients and families need to know this. In particular, cancer patients need to realize there’s a human behind the white coat who should be their partner in treatment. Through this book readers will see inside the system that trains doctors. They will meet doctors, understand how doctors themselves perceive their patients, and be more able to decide how and by whom they want to be treated. Nothing is more powerful for cancer patients than finding the right partner to provide them treatment, care, and comfort.”

Dr. Kennedy describes how incorporating alternative medicine into his practice helped him treat patients more effectively and details how accommodating cultural norms within specific Los Angeles ethnic communities helped him identify and gain early diagnosis for hundreds of cancer patients who might otherwise have gone untreated. He reviews how and why cancer must be treated as a “family illness” and why families and support structures are critical to extending life, and providing optimal quality of life to patients afflicted with cancer.

Dr Cary Presant, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, says “Reading this excellent book shows how difficult it is to become a physician and fight disease as well as the medical system. Dr. Kennedy’s descriptions of his feelings about his patients are richly worded, and emphasize how important it is for each reader to find a dedicated, compassionate doctor like the author. I recommend it highly.” Dr. Presant is also past President of the California Division of the American Cancer Society, and Past President and Chairman of the Board of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California.

Medicine Man takes readers on a journey through the American medical system and gives them information and insight that may well save their life or the life of someone they love. It is the perfect read for anyone currently undergoing cancer treatment or for anyone who is considering a career in medicine.