Processional

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

Processional, Anne Compton’s second book, is a pleasurable, smart, and
polished read, composed of a series of poems that are both warm and
surprising. Her language moves lightly and easily, telling great stories
with few words. Her touch is easy and fluid, anchored in a pastoral
sensuality. These attributes, as well as her humour, are evident
throughout the book. An excellent example can be found in such works as
the poetic list of aphorisms that create “Obiter Dicta, While Spring
Housecleaning”: “Words are like windows, unremarkable if clean.
Vinegar works best. / Working away wood smoke and rain smear: Hank
Williams crooning ’bout love. / A chronic wasting disease that
afflicts men handling six-wheelers and sonnets. / What I wouldn’t do
for a Glenfiddy just now.” And while the details of the poems allude
to rural life, their pace and syntax surprise the reader. Take, for
example, the love poem “Passionate Thinking”: “In the elegiac
light of April—when buds are rouged with sap / and mud underfoot is
juicy—I tell you again / the turn of phrase I fell for. The cognition
of the kiss. / […] Hip of the mind. Curve of refusal. Get me out of
this.” The elegant language of Compton’s tribute to John Donne gives
way to the short syllables of actual physical lust.

Processional, which won the 2005 Governor General’s Literary Award
(Poetry), is a physically and intellectually engaging book. “The
garden though is salted with story,” Compton writes. It’s an apt
summation of the juxtapositions of language, image, and narrative laced
throughout these quietly powerful poems.