#Review: Lacquer is a Thrilling Word by Barrie Cole

Lacquer Is a Thrilling Word 
Poet: Barrie Cole
Publisher: Finishing Line Press
Rating: 4/5

Some poetry collections ask you to slow down and contemplate; Lacquer Is a Thrilling Word asks you to loosen your grip on logic and simply enjoy the ride. Barrie Cole’s collection is quirky, imaginative, funny and, beneath all its playfulness, surprisingly tender. It experiments with form, turning fortune-cookie predictions, to-do lists, drive-through orders, conversations and everyday observations into poetry.

The title itself is particularly fitting. Lacquer is something that coats, beautifies and preserves, and Cole seems to do something similar with language. She takes ordinary, fleeting or even uncomfortable experiences and gives them a strange, glossy permanence. Calling a word “thrilling” also captures her fascination with language itself—its sound, appearance and associations. The collection even pauses to celebrate the word lacquer simply because of the way its letters sit together. It is a small example of how seriously Cole takes the pleasure of words.

What I enjoyed most is her ability to discover the extraordinary in the mundane. A pile of unmatched socks, a grocery-store conveyor belt, hundreds of misprinted pens or a bouquet of melting icicles can become opportunities for reflection. There is a wonderful childlike curiosity in this approach, but it is balanced by an adult awareness of love, loneliness, grief, ageing and mortality.

The humour is one of the book’s biggest strengths. “Still,” for instance, turns everyday mistakes and anxieties into a wonderfully self-deprecating meditation, ending with the reassuring uncertainty of being “still good. Probably.” Yet the collection can become unexpectedly dark. “The Breakup” is raw and uncomfortable, while “Sting” moves from an almost whimsical image into grief and loss. These shifts prevent the book from becoming merely cute or eccentric.

That said, the unconventional style may not work for every reader. Some pieces are deliberately repetitive, rambling or surreal, and readers who prefer tightly structured poetry may find themselves wondering where a particular poem is going.

For me, though, that unpredictability is part of the charm. Lacquer Is a Thrilling Word is best read with curiosity rather than expectation. It is a celebration of language, imagination and the strange beauty hidden inside ordinary life—and sometimes, that is exactly where poetry is most thrilling.

Find this book here.