The Silver Palace Restaurant (Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series) by Mark Abley

Part three, “Food: A Travelling Quartet,” is delivered in a post-modern narrative form about an animal fable consisting of a bear and a wolverine.

It is clearly and evenly written and strikes a personal chord in all of us. This poem is direct and invokes an emotional response. It is less conventional in form, yet has the same ability to move and leave a lasting impression: “Cancer,” also in Part 2, is even more personal it deals with a father’s diagnosis. The verses are well constructed, and the language is inspiring. The writing is compelling and invites the reader to travel across this landscape and experience it in an intimate way. Mouths that possessed a word for “starving, though In the cloud peaks, harvesting the valleys, The next two stanzas are equally brilliant and are able to stand on there own:Įchoes off the scree like verbs from the tongue Abley is able to convincingly paint a picture with words through a rich blend of imagery: “A conversation of ravens, hurled into / the wind as it pushes low / across the dry forget-me-not ridges” (16). “Kootenai” is one of my favourite poems because of its carefully chosen language and delicate internal rhyme scheme.

In Part two, both forms are employed with a natural simplicity. The poems in this collection are passionately written in both traditional and postmodern forms. The poet’s clever use of words in the final two stanzas of “After Pinnochio” lets us see for ourselves how lessons are gained from the art of experiencing life. Part One opens with “After Pinnochio.” Abley lets us know that the only way to live life is to experience it: The collection is divided into four parts. Abley’s compelling and poignant poems convey the emotion of memory and place from start to finish. His collection touches on themes of childhood, adulthood, parenthood and death. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.Mark Abley’s poems invite the reader to experience the landscapes of language and form, from the Rocky Mountains and the Gaspe Peninsula to Italy, Croatia and China. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. A Montreal b McGill-Queen's University Press c 2005Ī Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Ī Electronic reproduction.

The Silver Palace Restaurant (Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series) by Mark Abley