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Migration of light
111 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1983
About the author
Brian Henderson
10 books19 followersBrian Henderson is the author of twelve volumes of poetry, the most recent of which is Unidentified Poetic Object from Brick Books. Sharawadji (Brick Books, 2011), was nominated for the Canadian Authors Association Chambers Award for Poetry. Nerve Language (Pedlar Press, 2007) was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. Henderson's work, both critical and poetic, has appeared in a number of literary journals. He holds a PhD in Canadian literature, is the past director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press, and lives in Grey Highlands, Ontario, with his wife, Charlene.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 3, 2019
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. Recurring themes include light, darkness, seasons, snow and frost, pollen and flowers and blooming. Many of these topics could easily become cliche, but Henderson writes about them with such surprising diction and attention to detail. A few sections of the book are written in exquisite pentameter—so smooth that I often went back to scan the poems to make sure!
I only have a few complaints. Like how often I cringed at misspelled words ("mohogany," "jehad," "Jurasic," "fushia." I know they're not common words but it's not like dictionaries didn't exist in the eighties). I also really didn't like the poem "10 Holidays in a Dark Room," a fifteen-page poem with maddening spacing and uninteresting ideas. This poem is exactly what you'd expect from the title; Henderson recounts vacations with his partner. I never enjoy poems like this because they're way too personal, which usually ends up being a) boring (especially at fifteen pages!), and b) underwhelming. It seems like a fool's errand to try to capture such emotion and memory...is it possible that any combination of words can be adequate? I also really didn't like the stylistic departure from the rest of the poems in the book.
This is a rare book of poetry that I would read again in its entirety—well, maybe skipping that holiday poem. All the other poems in the collection are good and there are quite a few that are brilliant.
Poems that I liked:
"Afterbloom (for M.H.), Brain Damage No. 2," "Sept. 10, 81," "3rd Migration, First Series IV," "3rd Migration, Second Series I," "A Season with a View," "Our House Burned Down But We Saved the Forest (for Sigbjorn W.)"
=8/76 (10.5%) poems that I liked.
I only have a few complaints. Like how often I cringed at misspelled words ("mohogany," "jehad," "Jurasic," "fushia." I know they're not common words but it's not like dictionaries didn't exist in the eighties). I also really didn't like the poem "10 Holidays in a Dark Room," a fifteen-page poem with maddening spacing and uninteresting ideas. This poem is exactly what you'd expect from the title; Henderson recounts vacations with his partner. I never enjoy poems like this because they're way too personal, which usually ends up being a) boring (especially at fifteen pages!), and b) underwhelming. It seems like a fool's errand to try to capture such emotion and memory...is it possible that any combination of words can be adequate? I also really didn't like the stylistic departure from the rest of the poems in the book.
This is a rare book of poetry that I would read again in its entirety—well, maybe skipping that holiday poem. All the other poems in the collection are good and there are quite a few that are brilliant.
Poems that I liked:
"Afterbloom (for M.H.), Brain Damage No. 2," "Sept. 10, 81," "3rd Migration, First Series IV," "3rd Migration, Second Series I," "A Season with a View," "Our House Burned Down But We Saved the Forest (for Sigbjorn W.)"
=8/76 (10.5%) poems that I liked.
Displaying 1 of 1 review