Arguments with Gravity

James Deahl is a partner in Mekler & Deahl, Publishers, and the author
of Under the Watchful Eye: Poetry and Discourse, Poetry Markets for
Canadians, and Mix Six.

Michael Crummey makes an impressive debut with this first book, which is
divided into five sections: home and working people, family connections,
politics, gender issues, and travel.

The strongest and most vital poems are those that deal with the
poet’s home and with his father. Crummey, who comes from Buchans,
Newfoundland, splendidly evokes a world of real work, of cod fishing and
hardrock mining. In the political poems, which focus on Latin America,
the poet expresses both outrage and compassion.

Less successful are the travel poems. Mostly set in China and Ontario,
these pieces seem superficial when compared with Crummey’s resonant
and moving Newfoundland poems.