Tracks in the Snow

Joan Buchanan is a writing instructor and storyteller, and the author of
Taking Care of My Cold! and The Nana Rescue.

Ralph Gustafson, winner of the 1974 Governor General’s Award for his
book of poems Fire on Stone, continues to craft poems with a simplicity
that reveals the core of life. Gustafson’s gift for clarity becomes
obvious in the opening of this new collection: “A Palestinian, though,
lent / A hammer recently to an Israeli settler / On the left bank, both
/ Being engaged in carpentry. There are ways, he said, / Of nailing up
one board while holding / Another in place, showing him” (“The
Burden”).

The settings of these poems range from international hubs to the quiet,
English/French village of North Hatley on the shores of Lake
Memphremagog, where Gustafson lived with his wife, Betty, for some time.
Natural elements figure prominently, and in an uncontrived manner:
“End of March, winter leftover. / One bird of no whistled song ...”
(“End of March”). A series of love poems about the poet’s wife
transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary: “When she sits in the
easy chair / By the fire, her left foot / Up on the hassock, the right /
Crossed over it, reading / The New York Sunday Times, / She goes out of
sight / For as much as ten pages. / It is hard to apportion love”
(“The Moment Is As Her Presence Is”). Tracks in the Snow contains
many such gems of passionate precision.