The making of a poem is like the making of a pearl: you take something irritating and create a jewel. George Bowering’s “goodbye” book of poems, Pearl is a bushy collection that centres around a promise he made to himself that, before he left, he would write a poem about his mother, Pearl Bowering – a hillbilly, athlete, and champion bridge player. Pearl includes this promised poem and more, raucously sprawling in a myriad of directions and tones, insisting on poetry’s multifariousness and big-heartedness. Pearl is at turns touching, ribald, and cheeky – a string of gems that reflect on the end of a life well lived and well written, all while openly resisting the idea that a poet might wrap up their time with a tidy couplet.
