Apology for Absence: Selected Poems 1962-1992

Bruce Meyer teaches English at Trinity College, University of Toronto.

This poignant and readable collection represents the best of Newlove’s
poetry since his previous book of selected poems, The Fat Man.

Included here are such gems as “The Pride,” his study of the
sensual power of the prairie Native experience and history; “Ride Off
Any Horizon,” which has become an influential poem to such other poets
as P.K. Page and Patrick Lane; and “White Philharmonic Novels,”
which ranks as one of the most intriguing long poems in the recent
Canadian canon. In this latter poem, which reads like Rilke’s “Duino
Elegies,” first lines from various fictions, epigrammatic statements,
and simple note-taking gestures interplay with one another and resemble
an orchestra warming up—an individual gradually acclimatizing himself
to the scales and melodies of life. Also included among the selections
are Newlove’s rich and probing early poems, which chronicle the
perceptions of a boy becoming a man through the process of
self-awareness, fear, and curiosity.

Newlove ranks as one of Canada’s premier poets. His voice is that of
the perplexed, uncertain modern man who is both bemused and befuddled by
the world around him; yet he is full of wonder at its sights, sounds,
and sensations.