No Cold Ash

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia and is the
co-editor of Four Realities: Poets of Northern B.C.

No Cold Ash is a good, yet slightly flawed, book. There seem to be two James Deahls: a pale, precious aesthete and a vibrant, warm participant in life. The writer of the blurb on the book’s back cover unfortunately chooses to stress the former personality. He leads one into thinking that here is an “academic” poet whose work is overrun with “influences” and high seriousness. A few of the poems in the first of the book’s three parts support this image, but for the most part such is not the real James Deahl. At his best he writes in the manner of Tom Wayman and Milton Acorn (the latter an acknowledged influence). Pieces like “Toronto,” “The First Chilly Day in August,” “The Great Lakes Shipping Strike,” and “On the Line” are personal and political statements about working, the life of the average man, injustice, and the small victories over injustice which common people sometimes achieve. This book is an enjoyable read and I strongly recommend it.