This Wind

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
the author of No Greater Love.

Joan Ruvinsky is a scientist as well as a poet, a fact that is manifest
in her writing. A case in point is “The Wool Socks,” a humorous and
thought-provoking poem set out like a scientific experiment.

The poems in this collection are filled with evocative imagery (e.g., a
basket is made with rushes “to hold everything ... even the wings of
the great blue heron”). They also contain simple truths couched in an
unusual way: “It’s a calculated risk to be born” and “A flash /
of grief is worth / a year of sadness.” Some contain lines that are
very moving: “A friend who died of war.”

The six poems in the The Aids Chronicles are brutally powerful and
gut-wrenching. What appeals about this book is its range of topics,
atmosphere, and tone. From the northern lights to drilling a well
(“the horrific din of steel versus granite”), and from the sadness
of killing a frog with the mower to a serious spoof on beeps and
recorded messages, there is endless variety here. This is verse by a
poet who is truly eclectic, and who has a firm grasp on life as well as
on language.