Shepherd, Kelly

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

The GooseVolume 15 | No. 1 Article 68-21-2016undercurrent by Rita WongKelly ShepherdUBC OkanaganPart of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Literature in English, North AmericaCommons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Place and Environment Commons, and theRace, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies CommonsFollow this and additional works at / Suivez-nous ainsi que d’autres travaux et œuvres:https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegooseThis article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Goose by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrantede la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactezscholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended Citation / Citation recommandéeShepherd, Kelly. "undercurrent by Rita Wong." The Goose, vol. 15 , no. 1 , article 6, 2016,https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol15/iss1/6.A Call for Action, a Prayer to Hold On  undercurrent by RITA WONG Nightwood Editions, 2015 $18.95  Reviewed by KELLY SHEPHERD  So terribly simple, so utterly    unachieved so far: to kick the oil addiction for love of   water  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   to make a story large enough,   generous enough to become   better neighbours  with the winged, the finned, the four  legged, the stumbling two   leggeds (“too long a sacrifice” II. lines 3-7)  With its oral storytelling rhythms, and its balance of hope and despair, this passage is representative of Vancouver poet Rita Wong’s newest collection, undercurrent. In fact, Wong published two books in 2015: undercurrent and the graphic novel perpetual. Both are illustrated by Cindy Mochizuki; both seek to communicate the vital importance of water for the well-being of all biological, cultural, and spiritual life on planet Earth. undercurrent’s cover is a green swirl of submarine life and motion, depicting an undulating spiritual ecology of human, other-than-human, and mythical beings. According to the artist’s statement at the back of the book, it is a detail of “Becoming Worthy” by Marika Swan, part of a larger collection of woodblock prints that explores the people’s “natural and supernatural relationship with whales” in Swan’s traditional Tla-o-qui-aht community. The poems of undercurrent are not as stylized, or cryptic, as those of Sybil Unrest (co-written with Larissa Lai in 2008); this book has more in common with 2007’s forage. Both are collage-like, with illustrations and marginalia, and both employ a number of poetic forms. Some undercurrent poems, like “fresh ancient ground” (17) and “dada-thay” (70), juxtapose brief stanzas with essay-like prose; repetition and rhythm are emphasized in “immersed” (32) and “#J28” (77). Found poems utilize lines from Alberta oil sands documents (“for gregoire lake” 68) and the online I Ching (“threefold return” 56). As the variety of collaborators listed in the above paragraphs attest, Wong is a poet heavily invested in community. The Acknowledgements pages include many individual names, and an extensive list of conferences, walks, schools, and gatherings. Quotations from a wide variety of literature and popular culture border the pages. The book is written in English, but phrases and names in Chinese and numerous Indigenous languages float to the surface throughout. This emphasis on dialogue and interconnectedness—on kinship—extends beyond human cultures to include the natural world and, of course, water. In “too long a sacrifice” the coastal waters and their inhabitants, including the participants in a canoe journey, are a “murmuration of ancestors and descendants” (II. line 23); “#J28” describes round dancers and drummers raising awareness for treaty rights across the country as a “human river” (line 33). And these are not mere metaphors (pun intended). Human beings, like all living things, are composed of water and depend upon water to survive. The health of water is our health. Solidarity with all that is alive, including water itself, is the 1Shepherd: undercurrent by Rita WongPublished by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2016surface tension that holds these poems together. But Wong is not content to simply point out the ecological connections between water and life. She also condemns the rampant corporatization and consumerism that have landed us in this present era of ecocide and rising tides. Pollution and polluters are called out in the prose lines of “borrowed waters,” for example, where “the great pacific garbage patch is not just a mass of floating plastic junk the size of ontario, jostling about with jellyfish and starving squids in the ocean, but a dead albatross mirrors us back to ourselves” (lines 1-5). The wonderfully titled “a magical dictionary from bitumen to sunlight” defines the word “bitumen” as “buried ancestors, unearthed & burned to expand the ocean” (line 18). In “lupus, a doubled being” a prophetic voice speaks for the myriad forms of life with water’s voice: “We are freshwater & saltwater, blood & bone,” a voice which becomes apocalyptic when imagining its own resilience in the face of destructive industrial capitalism: “We are wet premonition, ferocious spirit waiting for the master’s dams to crack, the inexorable and unrepentant rain, the tidal waves taller than tankers” (lines 41 and 33-34). If water’s health is also our health, then violence perpetrated against water is violence perpetrated against us. Among other things, the title undercurrent suggests resistance. Indeed, despite all the oil and plastic and uranium, there is room for hope in these pages: “we persevere / through this episode called industrialization” (“the wonders of being several” lines 3-4). undercurrent is an ecology of joy and sadness, a complex watershed of anger and beauty. There are bright moments, like the return of the salmon in “medicines in the city” (36) and the celebration of life’s simple pleasures in “inner compass, outer radar” (62). There is still fresh water flowing beneath the surface that can—and will—rise up.  another world is not only possible,  she is already here, carrying on underneath our feet reconstituting us with each new sip   of ancient water (“too long a sacrifice” II. lines 9-10)  KELLY SHEPHERD’s poetry collection Shift was published by Thistledown Press in spring 2016. Originally from Smithers, British Columbia, he currently lives in Edmonton. 2The Goose, Vol. 15, No. 1 [2016], Art. 6https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol15/iss1/6

undercurrent by Rita Wong

Scholars Commons

The Goose
Volume 15 | No. 1 Article 6
8-21-2016
undercurrent by Rita Wong
Kelly Shepherd
UBC Okanagan
Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America
Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Place and Environment Commons, and the
Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons
Follow this and additional works at / Suivez-nous ainsi que d’autres travaux et œuvres:
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose
This article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Goose by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Cet article vous est accessible gratuitement et en libre accès grâce à Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Le texte a été approuvé pour faire partie intégrante
de la revue The Goose par un rédacteur autorisé de Scholars Commons @ Laurier. Pour de plus amples informations, contactez
scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation / Citation recommandée
Shepherd, Kelly. "undercurrent by Rita Wong." The Goose, vol. 15 , no. 1 , article 6, 2016,
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol15/iss1/6.
A Call for Action, a Prayer to Hold On 
 
undercurrent by RITA WONG 
Nightwood Editions, 2015 $18.95 
 
Reviewed by KELLY SHEPHERD 
 
So terribly simple, so utterly  
  unachieved so far: 
to kick the oil addiction for love of 
  water 
 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
 
to make a story large enough, 
  generous enough to become 
  better neighbours 
 with the winged, the finned, the four
  legged, the stumbling two 
  leggeds 
(“too long a sacrifice” II. lines 3-7) 
 
With its oral storytelling rhythms, 
and its balance of hope and despair, this 
passage is representative of Vancouver poet 
Rita Wong’s newest collection, 
undercurrent. In fact, Wong published two 
books in 2015: undercurrent and the 
graphic novel perpetual. Both are illustrated 
by Cindy Mochizuki; both seek to 
communicate the vital importance of water 
for the well-being of all biological, cultural, 
and spiritual life on planet Earth. 
undercurrent’s cover is a green swirl 
of submarine life and motion, depicting an 
undulating spiritual ecology of human, 
other-than-human, and mythical beings. 
According to the artist’s statement at the 
back of the book, it is a detail of “Becoming 
Worthy” by Marika Swan, part of a larger 
collection of woodblock prints that explores 
the people’s “natural and supernatural 
relationship with whales” in Swan’s 
traditional Tla-o-qui-aht community. 
The poems of undercurrent are not 
as stylized, or cryptic, as those of Sybil 
Unrest (co-written with Larissa Lai in 2008); 
this book has more in common with 2007’s 
forage. Both are collage-like, with 
illustrations and marginalia, and both 
employ a number of poetic forms. Some 
undercurrent poems, like “fresh ancient 
ground” (17) and “dada-thay” (70), 
juxtapose brief stanzas with essay-like 
prose; repetition and rhythm are 
emphasized in “immersed” (32) and “#J28” 
(77). Found poems utilize lines from Alberta 
oil sands documents (“for gregoire lake” 68) 
and the online I Ching (“threefold return” 
56). 
As the variety of collaborators listed 
in the above paragraphs attest, Wong is a 
poet heavily invested in community. The 
Acknowledgements pages include many 
individual names, and an extensive list of 
conferences, walks, schools, and gatherings. 
Quotations from a wide variety of literature 
and popular culture border the pages. The 
book is written in English, but phrases and 
names in Chinese and numerous Indigenous 
languages float to the surface throughout. 
This emphasis on dialogue and 
interconnectedness—on kinship—extends 
beyond human cultures to include the 
natural world and, of course, water. In “too 
long a sacrifice” the coastal waters and their 
inhabitants, including the participants in a 
canoe journey, are a “murmuration of 
ancestors and descendants” (II. line 23); 
“#J28” describes round dancers and 
drummers raising awareness for treaty 
rights across the country as a “human river” 
(line 33). And these are not mere 
metaphors (pun intended). Human beings, 
like all living things, are composed of water 
and depend upon water to survive. The 
health of water is our health. Solidarity with 
all that is alive, including water itself, is the 
1
Shepherd: undercurrent by Rita Wong
Published by / Publié par Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2016
surface tension that holds these poems 
together. 
But Wong is not content to simply 
point out the ecological connections 
between water and life. She also condemns 
the rampant corporatization and 
consumerism that have landed us in this 
present era of ecocide and rising tides. 
Pollution and polluters are called out in the 
prose lines of “borrowed waters,” for 
example, where “the great pacific garbage 
patch is not just a mass of floating plastic 
junk the size of ontario, jostling about with 
jellyfish and starving squids in the ocean, 
but a dead albatross mirrors us back to 
ourselves” (lines 1-5). 
The wonderfully titled “a magical 
dictionary from bitumen to sunlight” 
defines the word “bitumen” as “buried 
ancestors, unearthed & burned to expand 
the ocean” (line 18). In “lupus, a doubled 
being” a prophetic voice speaks for the 
myriad forms of life with water’s voice: “We 
are freshwater & saltwater, blood & bone,” 
a voice which becomes apocalyptic when 
imagining its own resilience in the face of 
destructive industrial capitalism: “We are 
wet premonition, ferocious spirit waiting for 
the master’s dams to crack, the inexorable 
and unrepentant rain, the tidal waves taller 
than tankers” (lines 41 and 33-34). If 
water’s health is also our health, then 
violence perpetrated against water is 
violence perpetrated against us. Among 
other things, the title undercurrent suggests 
resistance. 
Indeed, despite all the oil and plastic 
and uranium, there is room for hope in 
these pages: “we persevere / through this 
episode called industrialization” (“the 
wonders of being several” lines 3-4). 
undercurrent is an ecology of joy and 
sadness, a complex watershed of anger and 
beauty. There are bright moments, like the 
return of the salmon in “medicines in the 
city” (36) and the celebration of life’s simple 
pleasures in “inner compass, outer radar” 
(62). There is still fresh water flowing 
beneath the surface that can—and will—
rise up. 
 
another world is not only possible, 
 she is already here, carrying
 on underneath our feet 
reconstituting us with each new sip 
  of ancient water 
(“too long a sacrifice” II. lines 9-10) 
 
KELLY SHEPHERD’s poetry collection Shift 
was published by Thistledown Press in 
spring 2016. Originally from Smithers, 
British Columbia, he currently lives in 
Edmonton. 
2
The Goose, Vol. 15, No. 1 [2016], Art. 6
https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol15/iss1/6


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undercurrent by Rita Wong

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