My Diary of Earth

Chris Faiers, winner of the 1987 Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award,
is author of Foot Through the Ceiling.

This is the fourth poetry collection by staunch Maritimer Gregory Cook. As anticipated from the title, the main themes are the intertwining of nature and personal history.

Cook’s poetry is a combination of the rough hewn and the lyrical. The best of it echoes Milton Acorn, especially in poems like “My Mother’s Blood.” Much of the poetry seems incompletely digested, as if the poet has perhaps found his voice but not yet mastered it completely and so occasionally goes off key.

Reading Cook’s poetry reminds me of the week I lived with an Irish family in a crofter hut. The experience was interesting, their hospitality unbounded, but I’m not sure I would want to visit again until they install indoor plumbing.