a matter of wings

First published in Woodnotes #31, Autumn 1997, page 52.       +

a matter of wings by anne mckay. Wind Chimes Press, 1996, 64 pages, paperback, 5½ by 4¼ inches. $4.50 postpaid from the author at Studio B, 1506 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5L 2Y9 [address no longer correct]. This is anne mckay’s 14th book, a collection of poems about flying things-birds, insects, angels. It repeats a number of her previously published poems (from other books), but here, in a new context, we see them freshly—all “a matter of wings.” We re-experience known poems, and also feel new associations and feelings in their pairings with new partner poems. In short, a pleasing collection—all of a feather. A must for all bird-lovers. Two feathers, plucked:

vespers

              that rush of wings

              from the belltower

a matter of wings

                               starlings

                               gleaning the far field