In Transit

Neil Querengesser taught in the Department of English, University of Calgary, Alberta.

In Transit is one of the finest books of poetry I have read in some time. It is a nicely balanced collection of domestic “family” poetry, poems of his travels through Greece and Mexico, and a laudable long poem, “Turning out the Lights,” about the poet’s brother and his fight against cancer. Without sentimentality or melodrama, Harris retraces the battle from diagnosis to death, bringing the reader very close to the realities of the cancer ward and its patients, and especially the hope of and fight for life:

Not only in “Turning out the Lights” but also in his other selections, Harris exhibits a talent for capturing images with a startling clarity and uniqueness. His verse is very smooth, seemingly effortless, creating poetic experiences that make the reader want to return to the poems again and again. Try just the first few lines from “The Kouros in Appollonon, Naxos”:

“Falling Back,” “The Dolphin,” and “The Road of the Dead” are just a few of the other poems that struck me with their intense fusion of image and emotion. Harris has hit all the right notes in this volume. It is a wonderful book of poems.