Chore/o graphy

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island and honorary chief of the Mi’kmaq of Prince
Edward Island.

Kearley’s first collection constitutes a bold experiment in language
poetry. Gone is the more familiar measure of sweet sound, with its
accompanying line-lengths or stanzaic patterns. Instead, we are
presented with a new notation involving the placement of words—a new
choreography, as the book’s title indicates. There are homonyms in
abundance, new punctuations, orthographic manipulations, puns comic or
uncomic, and other linguistic ploys. Although many are witty and very
revealing, some seem forced, accidental, even a trifle pretentious. Much
depends on the reader’s ability to catch Kearley’s swift transitions
and tangential nuances. His use of metaphor can be wonderfully striking,
as in “the water bled / slowly / through your moat.” Vitality,
originality, and exuberance are the earmarks of this promising debut.