Debriefing the Rose

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

The poetry of Mary di Michele demands much of the reader. The poet takes
us on journeys into history, literature, and myth, as well as into the
interior of the mind. Her work appeals to the well read, and to those
with a broad knowledge base.

Many of the poems in Debriefing the Rose spring from her stint as
writer-in-residence at the University of Rome, and from a trip to the
Greek island of Lesbos. Her writing reflects a different light than
would have been experienced home in Canada, and lends an exciting
shimmer, a teasing mirage to the words. She explores the writings of
Sappho, Homer, Hart Crane, and Rilke, and relates them to the common
occurrences of life. There is rich imagery here, some eroticism, and a
great deal of controlled passion. Musings on love include both the
heterosexual and the homosexual.

This collection does not present a particular style of poem, but is a
mixture of reasonably conventional poem-forms, prose poems, and stanzas
that drift into ellipses or are separated by asterisks. For all this, it
is remarkably cohesive, and leaves an impression on the mind like a
recurring dream. The image of the rose, including the somewhat startling
cover design, weaves its way from beginning to end, making us conscious
of both the flower and the thorn.