Mean

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island and an honorary chief of the Mi’kmaq of Prince
Edward Island.

As with so many words in the burgeoning English language, the title of
Ken Babstock’s first book has more than a single connotation. There is
the imperative to say something very significant (the need for some kind
of Aristotelian balance between saying too much, not saying enough; or
in the colloquial sense of lean and mean.

Babstock’s poems have all these qualities. Here is a strong passion
and intensity of life, backed by originality and immediacy of image,
tightness of phrasing, dissonant lyricism, and innovative rhyme.
Babstock demonstrates variety of mood and matching style. Some poems are
clearly pastiches (usually successful) of older masters—Ted Hughes,
for example, in such poems as “To Lichen,” “Wolf,” and “Crow,
for the Time Being.” The poet is not afraid to use rhyme, but when he
does so, it is in a syncopated way, and without any regular metre. There
are some fairly successful experiments in conventional forms such as
terza rima, sonnet, and glosa.

In conclusion, Babstock gives the reader the impression of a
sensibility that lives fast but knows how to survive. Another Rimbaud
perhaps, one whose poetry is determined to evolve in an interesting way.
His acknowledgments include quotations from the best poets; he is also
fortunate in having one of the best editors working today in Don MacKay.