The Parable Boat

Susan McKnight is an administrator with the Ontario government.

Hannah Main-van der Kamp arrived in Canada from the Netherlands as a
young girl. Since her teens, she has been publishing poetry in various
journals and anthologies. The poems in The Parable Boat, her second
collection of poetry, are imbued with a sense of spiritual questing.
Woodland animals, birds, plants, seasons, clouds, and weather are all
personified to convey the poet’s intimate feelings. The imagery is
clear and precise, yet otherworldly: “Normally restrained / and
law-abiding, morning sky loses / its better judgement, goes ultra
purple.” Wit and humor pervade such poems as “Bread of Heaven,”
which describes a Cistercian altar bread named “Saviour, Centre or
Sacrifice” that can be ordered by phone or fax.