Spaces Between the Trees

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

The nearly 50 poems included in this collection are all exquisitely
crafted. The opening poem, “High Wind in November,” in its imagistic
directness (“At midfield, solid, / a woman / in sweater and red
bandana / lens into it, holding her own”) is both visually and
aesthetically satisfying. Similarly, in “Stormy Night on Terra Nova
Road” or “Bare Trees and Freezing Rain” or “The Mortician’s
Craft, we are treated to some exceptionally fine visual images (“black
hair on satin pillow / framing serenity”). On the whole, therefore,
the collection is very satisfying, stylistically. At an emotional level,
however, most of the poems seem passionless, only occasionally revealing
any joy or pain or love. They are, in fact, often quite mechanical, too
suggestive of the poet’s craft rather than the poet’s heart. If they
are, as one supposes, about the spaces between the trees (even in a
symbolic way), I think I would rather see more of the trees themselves.