Iridium

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the author of Calling Texas and Earth Prime.

Steve Luxton is a graceful poet with a clear style and a congenial tone.
This book does not fulfil the promise of his first book, the hills that
pass by (1987). Too many of the poems seem written for occasions or to
commemorate minor moments of insight. The poet needs to challenge
himself more. His diction is undistinguished; the obvious word is
usually the one chosen. And the form of the poems is not demanding;
rarely does he do more than indent some of his lines. Luxton is not an
untalented writer—nothing here makes a reader wince or moan—but he
too often treats the mundane in mundane terms. In the opening poem,
“Hermit Crab’s Song,” the speaker says “Things that turn up / I
live in.” His muse seems too content to live in things that turn up.