After Atlantis

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
author of Calling Texas.

This is Hyland’s third book and definitely his best. The collection is
skillfully organized into six sections that cover a variety of tones and
subjects. Hyland has a gift for the dramatic monologue and often writes
about small towns, but his work has a wide range. He can deal with
boxers, truck drivers, intellectuals, not to mention whales and water
spirits (“Songs of the Undine”). One of the most interesting
sections of the book is devoted to the midlife crisis and loneliness of
a character named “Hammel.” The poems are generally shaped into
stanzas, but there are also some experiments in the prose poem. Readers
not enamored of “sound poetry” will enjoy the long satire on that
form called “Let Us Compare Technologies.” The occasional poem falls
flat, but most of Hyland’s work shows a precision of diction and
imagery and a strong grasp of form—and he is capable, in the old
Horatian formula, of delighting and instructing. He is one of the most
talented Western Canadian poets, and his work has been steadily
developing.