The Fires of Naming

John Walker is a professor of Spanish at Queen’s University.

Toronto-based Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and
spent 12 years as a nun with the Sisters of Mercy. The Fires of Naming,
as the first poem explains, represents a haphazard story of her life,
built up through memories, brick by brick.

The volume is divided into four sections representing the phases of the
poet’s life. Part 1, “Early Morning Gardens,” captures the early
years: childhood visits to Mallard Beach, cricket and cowboy games, time
spent with her aunt and uncle, happy days in the convent as a young
novice. In Part 2, “The Shaping of Desire,” the more mature woman
and poet is revealed in serious poems that express her love of
literature and music, and her abiding concern with language. Part 3,
“Drawing the Line,” deals with philosophical and metaphysical
problems—especially as they relate to the poet’s family—and the
anguish of confronting her own mortality. Part 4, “Rhythms of Wild
Thoughts,” develops the writerly, political, and feminist themes
hinted at earlier. Addressed to her “missis-lord,” the powerful
“Lament” that concludes this section finds the poet in her new land
(Canada), isolated, sorrowful, and riddled with doubts about her life
and vocation.