Inside Passage

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia and is the
co-editor of Four Realities: Poets of Northern B.C.

Inside Passage is a book of poems in three parts; however, its shape is
not a triangle but a circle. That is, the ending returns to the concerns
of the beginning. Part 1, “The Sinking Sun,” consists of short
lyrics and seems quite Wordsworthian in its outlook. Nature poems about
the West Coast give way to poems about personal relationships. A loved
one leaves the poet, leading to feelings of mourning and loss. Then the
poet’s attention turns back to nature, but this time he looks upon it
with a different eye. A deep distress has humanized his soul (as it did
Wordsworth’s), and nature becomes not just a source of pure sensation,
but a source of wisdom.

Part 2, “The Medicine Wheel,” focuses on West Coast Indian culture.
Most of the poems are purely descriptive, and many are written in the
first person. Perhaps the “medicine” of the section’s title refers
to the healing effects, for Beardsley, of immersion into Native culture.

Part 3, “Closing the Circle,” returns to the problem of unhappy and
unfulfilled relationships. In “Benchmarks,” the poet states, “I
know I can’t love the woman I want.” However, he now has the
strength to accept such a loss. In the same poem, Beardsley refers to
“speaking of permanent things,” which seems to be his underlying
purpose throughout. Like all romantic poets, he uses personal experience
to connect to something permanent that lies beyond individual existence.
This is a book worth reading.