The Debris of Planets

Michael Power is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

This is a funny and touching recollection of a boyhood spend in St.
John’s during the 1950s. Using a dual perspective, that of a child and
that of a returning adult, the book addresses such topics as religion,
education, and the importance of friends and family.

Doucet describes St. John’s as he knew it and wants the reader to
experience it. We go on walks through parks and along shorelines. We
visit local churches and follow children around on Halloween night.
Doucet tells of boyhood friends and the religion-obsessed priests who
taught in the schools. Religion plays a dramatic role in shaping the
young author (“In my childhood, / there were two planets / one was
Protestant, / the other Catholic”), as does St. John’s itself,
“the place where my image of / human civilization was first formed.”

Doucet possesses a fine talent for storytelling. His poems are
personal, often humorous, and always charming. The Debris of Planets
depicts a world that is both rooted in the past and still in existence
today.