Arguments with the Lake

by Tanis Rideout

Overview

In 1954, at the age of sixteen, Marilyn Bell became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. It brought her fame and adulation; her life seemed charmed. Enter Shirley Campbell, another young swimmer whose accomplishments were poised to rival Bell's, but in falling short in her own attempts to cross the Great Lake, she found herself spiraling out of control into a life of addiction, petty crime, and personal tragedies. Tanis Rideout weaves the tales of these two remarkable women together in a series of stunning, lyrical poems. It is a story of courage and triumph, but also one of adversity and redemption. This is an exhilarating book of poetry, at once tender and terrifying; like a cold dip in Lake Ontario, it will engulf you and leave you breathless. Arguments with the Lake confirms Rideout's arrival as a major new talent in Canadian letters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781894987714
Publisher:	Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Tanis Rideout's work has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for Emerging Writers and the CBC Literary Awards. In 2006, she was named the Poet Laureate for Lake Ontario by the environmental advocacy group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and joined Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip on a tour to promote environmental justice on the lake.

Table of Contents

Author's Note 1

"It was all like a dream or a nightmare."

Presenting Miss Shirley Campbell 5

Begin 6

We Bury the Waters 7

Small Children Tell Big Lies 8

The It Girl 9

Sharkgirl vs. Mermaid 10

"Girl, 16, Swims for Canada, Fame."

On the Waterfront 13

The Fear of Silence 14

Lights Out 15

A Minute of Warmth 16

Point of Entry 17

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. 18

No Moon 19

Marilyn, Midlake 20

Another Marilyn 21

The Catch 22

Logged 23

Begin Again 24

The M Gets Stuck 25

"Last one to Sunnyside's a sissy."

The Lake as Her Little Sister 29

Shirley Dreams of the Silver Screen 30

The Fergus Flash 31

The End of the Lake 32

The Pressure 33

Shirley, Midlake 34

Shirley Ponders the Unreached Shore 35

"You were great, kid."

Shirley Watches Marilyn on the Strait 39

Feverships 40

The Plunge 41

The Well 42

Coordinates 43

Motherhood 44

Seven Year Itch 46

Breaking Point 47

Below the Surface 49

Shirley Tallies Some Failures 50

Shirley as Drowned Ophelia 51

Shirley Thinks about Making Amends 52

Mirage 53

Totems 54

"The most glamorous of swim girls."

Courting 57

At Kew Beach 58

Departure 59

Winter Getaways 60

The Most Glamorous of Swim Girls 62

Northbound and Over 64

Archipelago 65

The Honeymoon's Over 66

Acknowledgements 69

Editorial Reviews

"The listless, monolithic hulk of Lake Ontario looms large in this stellar collection of interconnected poems by Tanis Rideout... By plunging into the aquatic depths of [Marilyn Bell and Shirley Campbell's] fictionalized emotional lives, Rideout pulls off a poetic rendering of two historical figures that is as consuming as it is invigorating." - Free Range Reading

"The poems also examine the darker forces of friendship, of womanhood, of what inevitably follows girldom, stardom. The lake itself is Rideout's main character though throughout the book, speaking back to each of the girls' arguments, enduring but ever-changing... I loved this book." - Pickle Me This

"There are risks in writing about real people and real events'that delicate balance between a commitment to the recorded past and the freedom to reinterpret important moments to suit art. Tanis Rideout once again proves adept at navigating these shifting currents." - Arc

From the Publisher