Fathers and Heroes

Martin Singleton was a poet living in Toronto.

This slim book is the first collaboration between poet MacKinnon and photographer Shaw, herself a published author and prize-winning poet. This book consists of a brief introduction, presumably by the publishers and replete with superlatives, four sections of poetry, and eleven black-and-white, thematically linked photographs.

Although individual phrases or lines can be quite compelling, much of this book is pretentious and severely overwritten. MacKinnon’s ambitions to deal with philosophical issues prove much larger than his talent. “Smaller” poems dealing with the poet’s youth or his personal recollections are much more successful. While it is laudable that MacKinnon tries to escape the cloying narcissism that confessional poetry has degenerated into, neither his intellectual nor his creative powers seem adequate to the task.

Shaw’s photographs reproduce well. The landscape shots are commonplace, even boring; fortunately, they are in the minority. Photographs of interiors, composed of a few carefully chosen objects that exemplify the need for artifact in a hostile environment, are exciting and evocative. Given Shaw’s eye for detail and her writing skill, perhaps she and MacKinnon should trade places.