Along the Sea Wall

Chris Knight is the managing editor of the Canadian HR Reporter.

In this book of free verse, Liane Heller asks questions but finds
contradictions instead of answers. Her language is acutely
contradictory, full of such lines as “I hate you too. / I love you”
and “you don’t care for much. / you care for everything” These
juxtapositions grow stale quickly, and the poems are best taken in small
doses. Most successful are those poems that veer toward metapoetry—the
artist musing on the creation of art. The title poem includes a
fascinating dialogue between the poet and her internal editor, the harsh
words of a reviewer, and Wordsworth’s description of poetry as emotion
recollected in tranquillity.