Night Walk: Selected Poems

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

The poems in this collection have been selected from six of the
author’s previous books, the first of which was published in 1977.
They are presented chronologically, so the reader can follow the
development of the poet’s style. Borson writes about the natural
world, the place of every species (including humans) in relation to
other species and to the universe at large. Her poems are profound, and
yet are gracefully written in lyrical language. Some are straightforward
and accessible, others meander down a variety of avenues. Sometimes we
arrive at a conclusion, but just as often it has been the journey, not
the destination, that has been the point of the exercise. The tone of
the pieces has a unifying similarity, so that the actual poems and the
prose/poems read very similarly. This is pleasing in a way, though the
possibility of monotony exists. However, there are sufficient small
surprises and delightful insights to keep one turning the pages. This is
a book for lovers of language, for lovers of nature, and for those with
reflective temperaments.