Voice with Flowers

Description

104 pages
$9.95
ISBN 0-88887-116-3
DDC C811'.54

Publisher

Year

1991

Contributor

Reviewed by Sheila Martindale

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
author of No Greater Love.

Review

Hornosty’s poems are finely crafted and very hard-hitting. The three
sections in this collection could perhaps be categorized as “his,
hers, and theirs.” Most of them have something to do with the dreadful
things men and women do to each other, and how their actions affect
those around them. The poet’s imagery is superb—everything is a
simile for something else, usually something dark or sinister. There are
untold hidden emotional meanings in the ordinariness of building
bookshelves, meeting for tea, or spring cleaning.

The net result of reading all 59 poems at once is a feeling of sadness
and depression. And yet the poetry is not without humor, albeit a black
kind of humor (“Afternoon Arena” being one example). It is also
lively and thought-provoking, filled with metaphoric potholes and
ambushes to keep the linguistic traveller alert, and requiring some fast
footwork on the part of the reader. Powerful stuff!

Citation

Hornosty, Cornelia., “Voice with Flowers,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed December 30, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/31060.