Gabriel's Wing

Susan McKnight is an administrator of the Courts Technology Integrated Justice Project at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

Gabriel’s Wing is a collection of poems about love—all variations of
love. Love is associated with loss in poems like “The Heaven of
Loss,” in which the poet wonders what has become of the two girls from
his childhood who “broke his heart,” and “The Last Page,” in
which he mentions that “I love you, Muriel” was among the last
things his dying father said to his mother.

The poems in Cooper’s 11th collection run the gamut of emotions from
total elation to devastation, yet he always finds some small thing to
give a sense of comfort. The poems relating to death and loss are
cushioned by the hope of an afterlife or at least the contentment
stemming from knowledge of a well-lived life. This gentle book would be
a source of comfort for anyone dealing with grief or heartbreak.