Snow and Other Guises

Jaroslaw Zurowsky is a translator and editor in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

As the title suggests, snow figures prominently in this collection of
poetry. While Falk has his moment of social commentary in the poem
“Albania,” and while he satirizes consumerism in “Universal Inc:
Announces New Lines,” the predominant theme is the winter environment
and its intertwining with people.

The most interesting poems are those in which Falk abandons the snow
motif. In “God and Satan: Together Again?,” he suggests that world
harmony could be achieved by bringing God and Satan together. This peace
could be brokered by getting both of them into the same bed as a
“proper” hooker. Falk’s satire appears in “To Reside on Mount
Olympus,” where he notes that the lucky stiffs who live there do not
have to worry about landlords or tax collectors. But there is also a
call for solitude in “Let Me Be,” so that he can be inert, like a
rock without the responsibilities of daily life, like stone imbedded in
some glacier (again the snow motif).

Falk is a master wordsmith. His language is very selective, almost
academic, which should not surprise as he teaches at Rutgers University
in New Jersey. Unfortunately, his craftsmanship has a tendency to turn
his poetry into verbal exercises rather than creations that exude life.
The poetry at times seems too controlled, as if written—almost
manufactured—with a dictionary rather than created with emotion. When
he abandons the snow motif and loosens the controls, Falk can be quite
effective. There are some good poems in this collection. However, they
are drowned out by too many works that appear to be very similar.