Contrary Infatuations
Contrary Infatuations is a collection of lyrical snapshots that take the reader to familiar places of both heartbreak and celebration. Whether chronicling the mucky reality of a lone woman working in the oil and gas sector or describing the wounds of widowhood there is a reverence for the natural world and an underlying theme of hope.
Awards/Award Nominations
Shortlisted: Gerald Lampert Award
Shortlisted: Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry
Reviews
Whether writing about the hard scrabble life of being a camp cook or documenting a long and harrowing bedside vigil beside her husband; whether writing about working in the oil patch, about being “ bushed,” or juggling wolves in a primarily male industry, she never succumbs to sentimentality or maudlin self-pity. Indeed, it is the upbeat character, the wit and good humour the poet brings to her candid observations that impresses most:
Her preferred mode is the skinny free verse strophe, she’s terse and economical with the language, even in the narrative pieces, and can string together a strong developmental suite, as she does in Camp Cook, Tree Planting Poems , The Patch Poems, 2006, and the stellar centerpiece, Astrocytoma. Her work poems bring to the familiar anecdotal narrative sub-genre a wry wit, strong use of anaphora and other parallel structures, so she can ring the changes from straight reportage to metaphor with élan. A solid debut. ~ Richard Stevenson, Northern Poetry Review
