Clay of the Maker

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and a
poet. He is the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

Salvatore Ala’s poems are carefully written meditations on subjects
ranging from family to place to lyric moments. The writing is careful
but not very distinguished; there is a stilted quality to the diction.
He overworks rhetorical questions and ellipsis dots, nudging the
readers, and his rhymes are self-conscious. His best poems are usually
short ones, like “Piazza Pretoria” and “Storm,” poems that
capture small epiphanies. When he tries to move beyond the commonplace
statement, as in the poem about playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, he falters,
saying that Rubirosa was a “priapic gigolo” who “ensorceled” the
“world’s richest women.” His work shows a will to write poetry,
but poetry cannot be willed into existence without more verbal resources
than this book manifests.