Camber | Don MacKay

Like all great poets, Don McKay uses metaphor as a method of conveying description, tone and emotion to his reader. In his collection Camber, McKay uses metaphor to convey his meaning to the reader via pop-culture reference, cultural illusion, and symbolic imagery. Of the poems presented in Camber, some of the greatest examples of these traits come in “Close-up on a Sharp-Shinned Hawk,” “Sparrows,” and “Gynaecology.” These poems not only spark the imagination, but through metaphor, bring the reader into another mindset through their power and uniqueness.

The poem “Close-up on a Sharp-Shinned Hawk” (4) is divided into two parts. The first stanza focuses on the description of the titular bird, much like he would later when describing the white-throated sparrow in “Load.” The technical description of items on anatomy such as “the accipiter’s short rounded wings, streaked breast,” ground the reader in reality, and we see the bird through the eyes of an examining birdwatcher or bird-enthusiast. He uses simile (rather than metaphor) when describing in this stanza as a method of keeping the reader distant from what is happening, with lines like: “talons fine and slender as the x-ray of a baby’s hand.” There is an abrupt shift in tone between the stanzas, accented by the use of the word “[s]uddenly” at the start of the second stanza. Now McKay uses only metaphor to describe the sharp-shinned hawk as it takes off into flight:

Suddenly, if you’re not careful, everything

goes celluloid and slow

and threatens to burn through and you

must focus quickly on the simple metal band around her leg

by which she’s married to our need to know.

“[G]oes celluloid and slow and threatens to burn through” is a reference to original motion-picture projector technology that, when it was run too fast, would heat up and slow down the film and sometimes even burn through the reel. On its own the metaphor creates vivid imagery and captures the moment and the excitement of the watched bird taking flight. When taken into the context of the rest of the poem that stanzas seem to contrast the sometimes scientific and descriptive nature of bird watching with the excitement of actually going out and doing it. The first stanza mirrors the cold and straightforward approach that a bird watcher’s text might take to a sharp-shinned hawk, the latter stanza captures the experience of finding one and studying it, briefly, before it flies off into the wild again.

“Sparrows” (16) again uses metaphor to describe its namesake, and again does so through a sharply-placed cultural reference in the first line that sets up the tone and view of the remainder of the poem. The line “[a] moveable ghetto” compares the flock of sparrows to the people that hang about together in a ghetto, and also brings with it sinister undertones of cheapness. They are a common bird that congregate in cities and urban areas, much like the people and neighbourhoods he is referencing. Like youth hanging out together of a street corner, the sparrows flee when someone blue comes around: in the poem it is a Blue Jay, while in the human world of the ghetto, “blue” can be used as another word for a uniformed police-officer or squad car.

…suddenly

a Blue Jay, they

scatter to the currant bushes and

regather: then to

jabber back, hardy

and unkillable clichés

McKay uses these comparisons, much like in “Close-up on a Sharp-Shinned Hawk,” to relate his experience of viewing each poems titular bird to the reader via metaphors comprised of shared experiences, emotions, and memories. His metaphor here imbues the sparrow with human characteristics, stripping the flock and flight patterns of the bird of its evolved and scientific nature and gives them an urban, youthful personality. The metaphor also works backwards, comparing street youth to sparrows that run every time danger or authority venture near and taking some of the intimidation out of the youth by comparison.

“Gynaecology” (18) differs from “Close-up on a Sharp-Shinned Hawk” and “Sparrows” in McKay’s portrayal of a human experience, rather than one linked to his love of ornithology. “Gynaecology” paints the scene of a man in the waiting room of a gynaecologist’s office, waiting for the news or arrival of his female companion. McKay alternates between description and metaphor much as he does in “Close-up on a Sharp-Shinned Hawk,” using the metaphor to add emotion and depth to the setting given to the reader in the descriptive segments.

Women trundle I.V. trolleys slowly

down the corridor, flourishing clear bags of plasma,

emblems of the perfect womb.

The line “emblems of the perfect womb” here serves multiple functions. Taken literally it is descriptive, the U-shape that an I.V. bag of plasma takes mirroring the shape of a womb and even the V or cup international symbology for womb and woman. It is also descriptive of the function of the bags of plasma. Just as they provide much-needed life and nourishment to the patients they are attached to, so to does the womb provide safety, nourishment and life for all humans when at their most vulnerable. Both also provide that nourishment via a cord: the plasma bag through the I.V. cord and the womb via the umbilical cord. Upon completion and re-reading of the poem more meaning is found in the line “Sadness of undone beginnings.” This, combined with the setting and title of the poem, lead to the conclusion that the speaker is waiting for the results of either a miscarriage or an abortion, likely a miscarriage due to the sombre nature of the piece. With this in mind the line “emblems of the perfect womb” also takes on a bitter and jealous note, as if the shape and function of the plasma bags reminded the speaker the womb and the supposedly imperfect nature of it that led to the halt of his unborn child’s development. McKay goes on to expose the rawness of the speaker’s emotional state:

… he thinks

we’re earlier than virgin

nakeder than nude.

Sex, a pair of shoes, is left beside the elevator.

Again, using metaphor to convey the unpreparedness (“virgin”) and helplessness (“nude”) that the speaker feels at this time. The line “Sex, a pair of shoes, is left beside the elevator.” conveys how sex is divorced from the sexual organs at a time like this. The joy and passion used to create the unborn child are gone, and have been left outside the office like something meaningless and forgotten. It is insignificant to the events taking place in the office, and adds to the tone of the poem and the mindset of the speaker. 

Like all great poets, Don McKay uses metaphor as a method of conveying description, tone and emotion to his reader. Through the metaphor in his poetry he conveys the feelings of grief and wonder, excitement and heartache to the reader, provide insight into his interest and experience. McKay uses metaphor to bring the reader into a different way of thinking, one he shares through his genius of comparison and contrasting culture and description.