can i get there by candle

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

can i get there by candle by anne mckay. Wind Chimes Press, 1996, 80 pages, paperback, 7 by 4¼ inches. Write for price to the author at Studio B, 1506 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5L 2Y9 [address no longer correct]. Hot on the heels of a matter of wings is anne mckay’s newest book (apparently 1997, although the copyright is 1996). The book’s three parts, “dill and sweet basil,” “water-coloured,” and “among her papers,” offer up 33, 26, and 40 poems respectively, plus a concluding poem, all in anne’s inimitable way of wording. Here’s a sampling, by candlelight:

too late to the jetty

the mailboat

                       come and gone

hot jelly jars

                      held just so

                      not to spill pale paraffin