Chess Pieces

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta. He is
the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

Formalist poetry is rare and generally should be encouraged, but this
book by David Solway is dry and platitudinous. He seems to assume that
the subject of chess guarantees intellectual depth. But his rhymes are
awkward, as in the opening of “A Counter-Truth”: “See him flex his
muscles, / the brawny pawn, / who thinks since he is legion, / that he
is strong.” Here and there some light verse succeeds, like “The
Nimzovich,” a parody of “Jabberwocky,” and his poem about playing
chess with his two-year-old daughter is touching, though sentimental.
The best poem is probably “Wittgenstein at Chess,” which has
something to say.