So Still Houses: Poems

Michael Williamson was Reference Librarian at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa.

Mr. Nowlan’s first collection of poems (he is also a writer, reviewer, and teacher) is a very low-key Raymond Sousterish work that verges on personal minimalism. The book is divided into four sections (“Memories,” “Guilt,” “Logos,” and “Infinite”) with about ten short poems in each. This structure is not integral to a thematic appreciation of the poems, although it loosely groups like-minded poems together. The poems more or less work for what they set out to achieve — namely, a kind of whimsical, avuncular observation of life going by:

Mr. Nowlan is adept at achieving a haiku-like resonance in his poems, and this is accentuated by effective line breaks and smooth shifting of the poems’ point of view. There is gentleness of tone throughout, characterized by benign playfulness: nowhere is there a threatening or a too probing image to disrupt the emotionally streamlined veneer. Because of this, the book is not particularly memorable; it doesn’t linger as good haiku often does, and it seems that the poet restrained himself by not wanting to be too risqué, or too adventurous. Some powerful poems seem to want to emerge, but the poet nervously holds them in check — which is too bad. Mr. Nowlan has talent, but he should let go and risk a bit of hell breaking loose. As it stands, So Still Houses is a nice collection, but it is only a notch or two above vanity-type publishing. Lancelot Press out of Nova Scotia has designed an attractive book except for the cover, which does not match the contents at all.