What the Wind Said

David E. Kemp is head of the Drama Department at Queen’s University.

Varney has been a poet, a critic, a printer, a publisher, an editor, a
graphic designer, and an artist, and in a very real way this
multiplexity of experience can be seen in his poetry. In this fourth
collection of his verse, Varney tackles issues of love, hate, midlife
crisis, the need to write, and the state of the planet in this, the last
decade of the twentieth century.

In the book’s first section, Varney expresses, in the clear,
unambiguous language that is his trademark, variations on the theme of
love that range from anguish brought about by separation, through
bittersweet memories, to the love of a mother for a child. In the second
section, “Skull,” the landscape darkens. We examine love gone wrong,
and the skull and the Grim Reaper figure more prominently in Varney’s
vision. But all is not darkness: a superb tribute to Pablo Veruda closes
the section.

In the third section, Varney muses on the nature and the art of
writing. He has words for a young writer, and his piece “A Word to the
Wise” is chock-full of wit and wisdom. The last section of the book is
more cosmic and elemental in its scope, although the writing is still
eminently accessible and laced with delicious humor and irony.

All in all, What the Wind Said is a varied and wonderfully readable
collection. It may not plumb the depths or seek the heights of human
consciousness, but it most certainly does enough to awaken our senses
and stimulate our imagination.