The Chambered Nautilus

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

Allan Barr has genuine lyrical gifts, which are sometimes squandered on
easy anecdotes permeated by a cynical tone. He is not at his best in the
prose poems, though his desire to tell stories perhaps explains the
anecdotal touch. His best comes in the title poem and in a mysterious
narrative, “Fish Magic”—works that are subtle and touching. The
longest poem, a slightly modernized retelling of the story of King
Richard III, is too slack and too obvious to succeed, though it has some
good touches. The middle of this book is dominated by poems and prose
poems that Barr or his editor might have omitted, leaving a core of
convincing and fully realized work. Poems like “Lullaby” and the
tribute to Williams Carlos Williams deserve better companion pieces.