Reduction Fired: concise, quiet, and intense poems voiced over vibrant scenes of nature - reflections to ripple through the mind

Do you feel like you have been "reduction fired" in your life? As Jennifer explains in her book, Reduction refers to the pottery method of firing a piece in low oxygen conditions - typically by slowly reducing the oxygen that feeds the kiln's fire.

Some colours of glazes result from reduction that aren't achieved in oxidation. It may also be that the fuel-starved fire pulls oxygen from the clay itself, and in doing so draws elements from deep in the clay up to the glaze. This can make it harder to determine the precise outcome of the glazed piece.

Reduction can even change the texture of the clay.

Jennifer Yeates Camara is a contemporary Canadian poet with a distinctly condensed style. In this first collection spanning over 25 years, she was inspired by some of the standouts of classical world poetry, including traditional Japanese haiku, Tang Chinese poets Li Po (Li Bai) and Du Fu (Tu Fu), Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, and even Biblical Hebrew poetry, as well as English and Canadian literature.

While Jennifer enjoys different forms of poetry (including the occasional sonnet), the style mostly seen in Reduction Fired is architectural. As Frank Lloyd Wright said, "'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles."

Here, lines are built only long enough to hold what is needed. Intimate feelings and rich visuals are described in everyday language that is clear and calm. The minimal verse at times is broken where the lines stand alone or the words at those points become different phrases with those before or after.

Many poems use parallels, or rhymes of thought, to keep ideas finely connected. Yet routinely, they take the reader to unexpected endings. Most are short shots - they may be quickly swallowed but keenly felt. And there is ever a rhythm throughout Jennifer's writings.

Reduction Fired is set out in 4 sections, each named for a season that represents a period in time. Specifically, they are grouped loosely in the reverse order they were written, with those under "Winter" being more recent poems from Jennifer's early 40s, penned when she was ill, and those under "Spring" being a few of her poems from her early 20s. Also, each poem's illustrations and symbolism are often taken from nature.

There are further subgroups of poems for different subjects; for example, "Chalk Drawings" processes the emotions Jennifer felt when a man who appeared romantically interested in her revealed he had someone else in mind all along. On a similar note, "W.A.M.W." refers to her feelings for an older man who was beyond reach.

Structurally, Jennifer attempts to break lines where they may suggest more than one meaning, or lead the reader down one path only to make an abrupt turn at the end. Admittedly, striving for this enjambment may muddle the meaning for some readers, yet the author hopes that those readers who wish might enjoy contemplating the multiple possibilities and the chosen outcome.

The events described in these poems are common to many, as they typically involve relationships of one kind or another (like in the popular 'Chalk Drawings'). However, on occasion, Jennifer's poor beginnings, her dear friend's suicide, her spouse's disassociation from the family through addiction and her eventual mental breakdown do reveal themselves in certain poems or phrases.

Jennifer presently works as a paralegal and lives with her son Mohamed in Vancouver, Canada. For more information on Jennifer, her influences and her photos, please visit yeatescamara.com.

Jennifer Yeates Camara is a poet living in Vancouver, Canada.

She is the youngest of 13 children, born to an extremely poor family in Southern Ontario, Canada. She grew up in an old house that someone had paid her father to haul away, albeit without plumbing as the water was never hooked up! Jennifer's early life in the 70's included an outhouse, a well, and a wood-burning fireplace.

Jennifer's sister Regan, one of several writers in the family, expands on their early life in the essay 'Eau de Toilet: The Fragrance of My Youth' (on regannuqui.com) and in the poignant essay published in Canada's The Globe and Mail in January 2019 entitled 'Elephants in the Classroom, and the Teacher Who Conquered Them.'

Despite such an impoverished beginning, the arts featured prominently in their family life and history. Jennifer's maternal grandfather was Owen Peak, a painter and photographer with a particular affinity for Canada's rugged outdoors. His early drawings of life as an Alberta cowboy are still being found today and at least one early magazine cover drawn by O.W. Peak is found in Archives Canada. More than once, the Globe and Mail featured an interview with him as their in-house artist. Remarkably, he even made the occasional painting trip to Temagami with fellow Welshman Frederick Varley of the world-renowned Group of Seven.

Jennifer's parents were both avid readers and often recited the poems of Robert Service and others by memory. With crafts soaring in popularity, Jennifer's mother Barbara went through a productive period with poetry, macrame and pottery. She scrounged enough tuition for ceramic courses at the local College, which included faculty such as Robin Hopper, Roman Bartkiw and Ann Mortimer, all celebrated Canadian potters. The glazes especially intrigued her for their complexity and potential. Her passion and talent with glazing earned her an invitation to relocate to an artist colony in Big Sur, California. The U.S. had the military draft on, and since Barbara had one son already of military age and another growing fast, she reluctantly declined.

At age 9, Jennifer moved to the coastal area of British Columbia with her mother and three siblings. After showing an aptitude for French lessons in grade 5, Jennifer was encouraged to join a late French immersion program starting from grade 6 (taught by the extraordinary Ms. Chin). It was around that time that Jennifer also started writing her own poetry.

Although Jennifer continued excelling academically, their family's economic situation was still dire and she turned to poetry to express herself. At one point in her final year, she was dating a young man, Dan, who attended another school. He became sick for two weeks and got behind in homework, including a poem required for English class. Jennifer helped out by giving him one of her own to submit. Dan's teacher was so impressed with it, he had Dan discuss it for the whole class (thankfully, Dan was good at improv), and told the rest of the class to re-write their poems as they 'clearly hadn't taken the time and attention that Dan had.'

Once Jennifer started working, she eagerly frequented local bookstores, where the proprietors introduced her to poetry from many cultures, including Persia, China, Japan and India.

During that period Jennifer also explored Biblical poetry and its unique aspects, like vivid verbs, concrete words for abstract concepts, short conjunctions for flow and rhymes of thought (parallel ideas or words used purposefully to connect different lines and allow groupings to make multiple points), and she passed many nights listening to recordings of the psalms.

For more information about Jennifer, please visit yeatescamara.com.