Half Truths

Bob Lincoln is Head of the Acquisitions Department at the University of
Manitoba Libraries.

Poetry communicates by the richness and compression of language.
However, to be memorable, a poem must embody more than dexterous
language, wit, and clarity. A certain level of craft is expected, but
the poem’s substance is what ultimately matters. This book contains no
glaring sentimentality, no lapses of tone; the poems flow across the
page with ease, and the words roll on. But the end result is
unsatisfying.

In “The Search,” which is about self-recognition and -definition,
the point is that there are areas of our souls and characters that
don’t yield to analysis, no matter what formulas we use, and that true
knowledge is difficult if not impossible. But the poem reads like an
essay. “Street Scene,” which is part of a series about India, the
details are accurate, but the message is ultimately ordinary: the
visitor is left “incensed with dust and exhaust.” The poem only
begins to work with the play on “incensed”; the rest of the language
is accurate and deliberate, but more journalistic than poetic.

The effect of these poems is diverting and pleasing, but transitory.
Half Truths has a distance to go.