Colours

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library at
the University of Alberta.

Colour is the subject of poetic exploration in these poems. The poet
states that he is interested in colours functioning as nouns, as opposed
to employing them merely as adjectives. His poems are short and
whimsical, reminiscent of fairy tales in their characterizations. A
series of illustrations (almost doodles) appear throughout the
collection.

His exploration, however, is a surface one. While it is obvious that
colour is a highly personalized subject for the poet, he does not
sufficiently venture into personal language or experimentation. Nor does
he appear to be interested in broader philosophical questions regarding
colour. Any of this would have made Colours a more engaging and rigorous
book.