Now the Moon Appears Among the Lilies

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views
of Canada, 1880–1914.

This 11th volume in the Newfoundland Poetry Series is readable but not
memorable. While most of the poems are impressionistically pleasing, few
of them prompt a second or third reading. And the collection as a whole
seems poorly edited: there is no discernible thematic unity, and it is
difficult to see how the divisions (or caesuras) denoted by asterisks
serve much purpose, whether they are intended to mark new impressions or
not. But there are moments of delight: “in the centre of the painted
field / a woman is asleep, a hat over her eyes / the field is grassy,
blond, sloping / the sky flat white behind black evergreens / beside
her, a dish of berries is about to tip / at her feet, a yellow dog has
just awakened / the sky leans a little / almost, you can feel the
languorous air / hear the thunder.”

Clearly, Ingersoll has a feel for concrete images that in some
instances take us beyond the image to the world inside.