This last summer, our regional literary community lost one of its most passionate ambassadors and with our most current issue which includes work from Toronto writers who directly or indirectly came to us through Darryl Salach, we thought it was time to pause and remember Darryl, who died June 19, 2015 at the age of 54 after a lengthy battle with ALS, according to his obituary.
Darryl was the editor of The Toronto Quarterly and championed many writers from Ontario and beyond. Fortunately for us, Darryl was also a contributor of Great Lakes Review as well as an early supporter and advisor, anxious to see the writers he published cross the border and hopefully gain a new audience.
After sending us works from writers who he believed in, he interviewed our Hamilton editor and eventually submitted his own work. Reading his contribution after learning he had succumbed to his illness made for a different experience. He never said if the poem in GLR was confessional or biographical but I was unable, at least this after his death, right or wrong, not to read it as personal. Speaking with other editors here at the review, we decided not to include that particular poem at this time but instead include the poem that was included in his obituary.
In 2011, we had a conversation about printing a roundtable discussion that he would take part in with his counterparts in Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Hamilton, Detroit and any other editors running lit journals in the region who may want to participate. That project never progressed beyond its embryonic stage because it’s an idea, like so many proposals discussed, that we will get to, we have time, so we think.
~~Rob Jackson
The following is Darryl’s poem published in: “MESS the hospital anthology” by Tightrope Books 2014. It was included with his obituary at the time of his death.
The Final Diagnosis
by Darryl Salach
It was early March 2009
when the neurologist
at Sunnybrook Hospital
conducted the final
EMG test
It started with two rather
large needles
on the right side
and nape areas of my neck
zaps of electrical current
were then released
searching for abnormalities
and unresponsive neuron activity
this procedure continued
all along my right side
of my body
ending with a final zap
at the base of my big
right toe
no inkling of reflex
response
was noted
twenty-five minutes
had elapsed
before the pregnant
neurologist
decided the EMG test
was final and complete
I could tell by her
facial expressions
the result of the test
were not in my favour
but I smiled anyway
asked about her pregnancy
and she informed
me today
would be her last day
on the job,
her maternity leave
started the following
morning and after that
a lengthy sabbatical
until her child
reached pre-kindergarten
a brief smile
then parted her lips while
her right hand
rubbed against her swollen
tummy
in soft circular motions
she advised me
to rid myself of the hospital
gown they’d assigned me
while she discussed
the results of the EMG
with the clinic’s chief
Dr. Zinman
five minutes later,
I heard a faint knock
on the examination room door,
my parents walked in
stating the pregnant neurologist
thought it best that they were
with me for the final
diagnosis
my mother appeared shaken,
my father asked about the machines
and how they worked
I laughed a little and instructed
my mother, no tears
another ten minutes elapsed
before the examination room door
opened and the two neurologists walked in
Dr. Zinman recited the final diagnosis
while the pregnant neurologist gripped
at her swollen tummy
watching the silent tears’s roll
one by one
down my mother’s face.