Born in Paris in 1966, Alain Raimbault lived in Nova Scotia for 13 years before he moved to Montreal in 2011. He is the author of 20 books in many genres. Terminus ventre-ville is his fifth collection of poetry.

In this collection, Raimbault writes in a free verse style which narrates in the first person. Stylistically, Raimbault mostly uses repetition, enumeration and metaphor. The collection is divided in three sections.

This first section, entitled «Présent singulier», is relatively introspective and addressed to a «you». The recurring theme is one of the observant disposition of a writer and the practice of writing. Raimbault enumerates many writers, but it is Bukowski that he mentions most.

on pense à John Fante à Kent Anderson à Bukowski
j’apprends d’eux le diable du détail

In the second section, «Montréal viscéral», Raimbault’s verses depict various aspects of mundane urban reality, such as metro stations, bus rides and even a car garage. The narrator observes, questions and seeks, through action, to find truth. Snow fills the streets in many poems, implicitly reminding the reader that he is writing in a Canadian context. Often, the observant narrator offers a humorous vision of everyday situations in carnivalesque fashion :

comme moi ils viennent de la Rive-Sud
la même ligne d’autobus depuis 95 ans
descendent depuis 3 siècles au
même arrêt
travaillent depuis 4 millénaires dans leur
tour à bureaux
et rentrent chez eux à 17h27

Through hyperbolic imagery, the poetry becomes a witness to the frenetic and, somewhat absurd, rhythm of urban living où je grouille parmi les fourmis, like the excessive composition of Hieronymus Bosch’s Hell or Fitz Lang’s Metropolis.

In the third section, «Corps étranger», childhood memories are mixed with the barbaric nature of humanity with evocations of war, consumerism, environmental and nuclear destruction.

pauvre Ukraine
après la guerre de 14 et la Révolution
après Staline et sa famine
Hitler et ses barbares
finir le siècle avec une explosion nucléaire
et Poutine
début du XXIe siècle

That being said, the author is no longer in the hustle and bustle of the second section. Henceforth, he inhabits his neighbourhood where diverse and multiethnic characters, often refugees who have fled war and torture, exchange parcels of their unique and enlightening existence. Raimbault’s poetry denounces the folly of war around the globe. Furthermore, as a counterpoint, it celebrates inclusive and multicultural spaces.

je suis l’espace de mon corps
ce squelette que je ne partage pas
que je remplis de café colombien
de bagels au beurre de cacahuètes nigérianes
de bananes panaméennes
de sandwichs au pâté à la truffe périgourdine

Throughout the book, Raimbault’s poetry observes the mundane and succeeds in generously including snapshots of unassuming people and the lessons learned from their existence. The poetry in Terminus ventre-ville is not one of the intimate realm nor laments of emotional outpouring. Rather, it creates a contemporary portrait of the world around us as viewed by an observant writer who seeks to be sincere with his tone and his sensibility.

Terminus ventre-ville is written in language on the side of orality, in the tradition of literary canons such as Prévert or Ferlinghetti. Thus, these poems are accessible to a wide audience and, in its rhythmic simplicity, Raimbault’s book may engage readers who have not read much poetry. Therefore, this approach seems to fit nicely with Mouton noir d’Acadie readership orientation. Certainly, it will be interesting to read more from this imprint in the future.

Born in 1971 and raised in Moncton, Marc Arseneau has published five books of poetry with Perce-Neige in Acadie and Écrits des Forges in Québec, as well as in anthologies, periodicals and magazines. He was, during the nineties, editor of Éloizes, a literary and visual periodical published in Moncton. He is known to be part of l’École d’Aberdeen, an Acadian literary movement born in the late twentieth century. He now lives in Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island, where he works as a teacher.