Dancing with My Daughter

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of English at the University of Prince
Edward Island.

In a helpful introduction, Rhenisch states his purpose to be that of
“singing the earth.” For his subject matter, and his inspiration, he
draws freely on all the familiar phenomena in the world around him:
home, family, roots, friends and neighbors, books, the day’s work. The
poetry in nature is, too, ever present. Birds, flowers, insects, grass,
wind and water, rain, sun and sky all stimulate in the poet reflection
and tribute. Trees in particular “haunt [him] like a passion.” He
endows them with a life and persona of their own. “Night Waltz” is a
splendid example among several. Rhenisch shows a brooding, plangent
awareness of time past, irretrievable yet permeating an uncertain time
present and time future. Fourteen of the 26 poems in this collection
have previously appeared in journals, in one form or another.