Mating in Captivity

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
author of No Greater Love.

The poems and prose-poems in this book are extremely powerful. They
appear to be autobiographical, but the use of the second-person singular
lends them an interesting objectivity.

The tone is surreal. We follow the poet’s journey as if in a
dream—a journey that takes us back to childhood and to a father who is
absent both physically and emotionally, and who has “errant eyes.”

Many of the pieces suggest a search, but the object of the search is
never found; in some cases, something else is discovered instead. We
venture through the familiar and out into the alien and the bewildering.
The elusiveness of the father figure colors the poet’s relationships
with all men.

There is an anger here, and weapons, some of which appear during
lovemaking. Even as she subtly criticizes her father for his wanderings,
the poet recognizes the same quality in herself. She knows she will
travel many roads with many people, and possibly never become rooted.

The language lulls you with its lyricism and startles you with its many
conflicting images. Mating in Captivity is a compelling, cohesive
collection.