Goalie by Ben von Jagow
Goalie provides connection points to experiences that are universal for athletes and ex-athletes
The rituals involved in maintaining a backyard rink, the mingled boredom and anticipation of long bus rides to games, and the tension of watching the game clock tick down are among the scenarios explored in Ben von Jagow’s debut poetry collection. Goalie. The collection includes 31 poems, some of which have been previously published in The Antigonish Review, Prairie Fire, filling Station, EVENT, and other venues.
Most of the poems revolve around or include references to hockey, although there is the odd one, like “At the Stittsville Dance,” that take us to memories of adolescence. Many of the poems deal with experiences at different levels of hockey from novice to retirement, including breaking in with a new team, training and off-ice activities, and descriptions of game action. Poems like “Four Captains” and “To the Vet” reflect on the contributions made by teammates. Some poems are prose poems, while most are free verse. The lengths and stanza arrangements of the individual poems vary, keeping things fresh.
Whether dealing with formal competition or preparation of the backyard rink, many of the poems capture the pleasure of the game and the rituals associated with it. In “The Rink,” the poem’s narrator talks about listening to his neighbour and his buddies playing on the backyard rink: “Carved ice / chirrups, pucks on plywood. Sounds that spoke worlds.” As he does elsewhere, when describing flooding the backyard rink, von Jagow creates vivid images: “Those nights, my breath rose to nowhere. A slow drip / from the nozzle freezing my gloved fingers. A delicate sheen / reflecting moonlight, floodlights, the black space above.”
“Prescient” captures the feeling of invincibility experienced by an athlete on top of their game: “On those nights, I tracked plays / like constellations. / My eyes could sequence the stars.”
“No Tourney Too Far” muses about what we remember, and what we don’t. Years after the fact, “Scores would blend, individual plays all but disappear.” What sticks in the mind are things like a seemingly endless bus ride to a tournament in a distant town: “Fifteen hours reduced / to a single fleeting feeling / of anticipation, of boredom, of anguish and serenity, / losing and winning, meshed into one.”
“Jupiter Is Made of Stardust,” which mingles thoughts about the stars and relationships, was one of my favourite poems, containing lines like “City lights have stolen our jewels of the night. / The moon like our last dangling ornament, a bulb of glass.”
The poem “The Old Barn” begins with the lines “The road takes me back, as it so often does, / to where it began.” In this poem, von Jagow revisits a rink from his youth, remembering “The candy cart where we turned caribous / into gumballs, jawbreakers, chews.” Walking from the lobby into the rink, he notices “The insect buzz of spotlights,” and the ice, “Glossy and grand, a body at rest. / Flawless lines, and molten puddles of light / pooling in the sheen.”
Because the arc of the book is so broad—taking us from youth hockey to acting as a fill-in goalie for a men’s league—there is room for self-knowledge and bittersweet reflection. This is particularly true of the poems later in the collection, like “You’ve Been Spending Your Days.” This poem includes lines like “Nothing sadder than a once-hero / losing ground on his former self.”
While focusing on hockey, Goalie provides connection points to experiences that are universal for athletes and ex-athletes, including aging out of sport, failing to appreciate one’s youthful abilities and freedoms until after the fact. The way things feel the same and yet different when you return to your hometown and revisit the diamonds, rinks, and courts you once played on. Athletes, sports fans, and poetry lovers should find much to appreciate in Goalie.
About the Author
Ben von Jagow's work has appeared or is forthcoming in Canadian Literature, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, EVENT, The Fiddlehead, Queen’s Quarterly, Newfoundland Quarterly, filling Station, and the Literary Review of Canada, among other publications. Goalie, is his debut poetry collection.
About the Reviewer
Lisa Timpf lives in Simcoe, Ontario, where she writes poetry, book reviews, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Lisa’s speculative poetry collections Cats and Dogs in Space (2025) and In Days to Come (2022) are available from Hiraeth Publishing. Lisa is a member of SF Canada and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/ Lisa is also on Bluesky, @lisatimpf.bsky.social
Book Details
Publisher : Guernica Editions
Publication date : April 1 2025
Language : English
Print length : 100 pages
ISBN-10 : 1771839481
ISBN-13 : 978-1771839488