Dominican Moon

John Walker is a professor of Spanish studies at Queen’s University.

Dominican Moon is the second book in poet Ken Norris’s travel trilogy
in verse. The first book in the series, Limbo Road, was devoted to the
European part of his travels. The 10 chronologically arranged sections
that make up Dominican Moon cover the poet’s travels in the Caribbean
between December 1996 and June 1999.

In what is essentially a narrative verse technique, the travelling
poet, with Dante as his guide, presents the visual subjects of love and
pain, nature and communion, alongside the normal disappointments of
human relations. Personal difficulties are complicated by the problems
of different cultures seeking to come together, the modern crises of
globalization and colonialism, social diseases such as AIDS and drug
addiction, and the economic exploitation of Third World countries by
Western superpowers. Since the Dominican Republic is noted for its
contribution to major-league baseball, much of this Canadian poet’s
time is spent on romanticizing the national pastime and its contribution
to teams like the Toronto Blue Jays.

If love is the main theme of the poet’s travels, he personalizes the
topic through his relationship with lovers like “Kirsi,” set against
the natural background of poems such as “Seeing the Stars,” “After
a Rain,” and “Crickets,” which capture not only the beauties of
nature but the many things he loves about his ideal women. In Part 3,
Tropical Rain, the poet conjures up images of “Paradise” and a rare
reference to the political malaise of the island as symbolized by
“Trujillo,” a poem about the long-time dictator and U.S. puppet who
was assassinated by his own people. The poet’s other ideal woman,
“Jenny” (Part 4) and “Stefani” (Part 7), prepare the way for the
title poem, “Dominican Moon,” which encapsulates the mood, themes,
and natural beauty of the other sections.

Despite the section devoted to Beisbol Romбtico and the occasional
socio-political reference, Dominican Moon is very much a personal
rendering of a subjective pilgrimage—the sensual trip of a questing
soul in search of love, but often finding pain.