Trudeau: Long March & Shining Path

Trudeau--Long March & Shining Path
by George Elliott Clark
Gaspereau Press Ltd.  




George Elliott Clarke crafted a lyrical poem in an imaginative and beautiful way to capture the mythical persona of one of Canada's political figures.  Trudeau:  Long March & Shining Path imagines the missing details of one of Canada's flamboyant and controversial hereos.  Clarke takes liberties in filling in the blanks that headlines failed to fill in.  
     
     Reporters when will you stop
     scheming up nightmares from ink and scotch! (Clarke 97)


Trudeau is a fast-paced jazzy number that is written as the libretto for a new opera by Canadian jazz pianist and composer D.D. Jackson.  Trudeau, as re-created by Clarke, is all about jazz in the sense that Trudeau and jazz have a special relationship to time.  Jazz, like Trudeau, eludes a strict definition and has the ability to absorb and transform influences.  


     Damn each history!  Each bio!
     There can be but the one "Trudeau"
     But your Trudeau?  And my Trudeau? (17)


Clarke cleaverly suggests this connection to jazz not only with the musical genre but also the key scenes, timelines, and influential figures that Trudeau encounters.  It is a beautifully written exploration into the juxtaposition between jazz and the mythical and historical Trudeau.  


Well worth the read.