Intimate Absences

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island.

This collection, selected from Doyle’s previous 10 volumes of poetry,
presents, in Doyle’s words, “all the seas of my selves.” This poet
is very much a man for all seasons and all manner of things, variously
expressing “the tenderness of pure happiness,” a sad awareness of
the passage of time, and anger at man’s inhumanity to man. Some poems
are simply descriptive of the moment, while others carry a more
permanent message. Doyle’s prefatory quotations to some poems bespeak
the polymathic scholar, but he also finds pleasure in debunking the
great tradition of English poetry. He also has a keen eye for detail,
particularly with respect to nature. His images can be strikingly vivid,
as in “voice like chewed fog.” The cover photograph by Sandy Rebar
charmingly encapsulates the theme of “intimate absences.”