“Moving to Delilah” (Freehand Books) by Catherine Owen
If one were to dissect a “home”, what would be found?
Owens’ latest collection of poems — her sixteenth — is founded on an initial grief (“Prologues”) that underlies her displacement from the BC coast to the Alberta prairies. Actually, this grief, and the memories woven through this experience of loss, are less an unseen foundation as they are a layer of richly-textured wallpaper, over which Owen adds new experiences and insights, and which still influences the patterns of the rooms of her house, Delilah.
As the poems expand further outwards — from “The House” to then “The Garden” and, finally, “The Neighbourhood” — they consider our ties to physical spaces: how owning a home, and owning a body, provide one with the ability to create new life. How home is a feeling fuelled by the collection of experiences and hearts of people we meet. How we carry these physical and emotional artifacts with us, even long after they’re gone.
Long after I finished reading, I wondered whether the “Delilah” that she moves to — this name that she hears whispered from the walls of the home she buys — is actually the author; the heart of a home, of a neighbourhood, is one’s own heart, both in the memories and those to be made in the future. And perhaps that’s why I so thoroughly enjoyed “Moving to Delilah” (and am keen to look up Owen’s earlier collections): I’m a sucker for approachable lyrical poetry that speaks clearly, but also warmly without being cloying, such that I continue to think about it, and find that each re-read adds new treasures. I liken it to a pie I imagine resting on a home’s windowsill, comforting yet full of rich filling and crisp layers that bloom.
While my use of the word “initial” makes it seem like the grief goes away, what Owen reminds us beautifully is how time allows us the space to give grief its own room, so that we can build a new home around it. Owen reminds us beautifully how time allows us the space to give grief its own room, so that we can build a new home around it.
Originally published on The Miramichi Reader on March 30, 2024
A lovely post-script from the publisher: Thanks to the Miramichi Reader and Bryn Robinson for the review of Moving to Delilah! In a review titled, “Finding New Rooms to Grow,” Robinson writes, “Long after I finished reading, I wondered whether the ‘Delilah’ that she moves to — this name that she hears whispered from the walls of the home she buys — is actually the author; the heart of a home, of a neighbourhood, is one’s own heart, both in the memories and those to be made in the future. And perhaps that’s why I so thoroughly enjoyed Moving to Delilah.” Thanks, Bryn! What an astute reading.
campfire notebook. 