Winter

Patrick Van Mil was a freelance writer in Banff, Alberta.

Harold Rhenisch needs a vacation. Although his poetry is technically quite good, it suffers from self-possession. If Rhenisch learns to see beyond himself and the forces of nature which move him so strongly, he may develop into quite a good poet.

Taken on an individual basis each poem is of high quality. Rhenisch combines brilliant and evocative imagery with tense and terse meter to describe his personal experiences. By experimenting with grammatical order and surrealistic imagery, Rhenisch allows the reader to feel the power and mystery of land, sky, and water. The descriptions are accurate and spellbinding.

Rhenisch’s theme centres on the unity of man and nature and the similar energy contained in each. In fact, most of the imagery centres on energy or the lack of it — e.g., light and dark; hot and cold. Rhenisch celebrates winter’s low energy because it is a time of reckoning. One looks back at the past harvest and forward to the new one and hopes for change. Although he looks for an answer in nature, he does not always find it. Here and there this results in despair. Poems such as “Words in January” and “A Call for Spring” especially present this view.

The book’s theme, as presented, does not merit the length given to it. Halfway through, the reader begins to time of the extremely personal, ultra-sensitive writing. More and different aspects of the theme would have expanded both the range and the interest of the collection.

This is a collection of poetry for readers who like to savour one poem at a time. Those who like to read whole volumes or who are looking for fan-ranging and complex ideas will probably only be disappointed.