Slow Fires

In this deft collection, Leonard Lambert confronts mortality with poems at once moving and artless. We walk with him down the long corridor of memory knocking at the occasional door: opening some and interrogating the interior, pausing thoughtfully before others, and--being the trickster poet he often is--knocking loudly at a few, then skipping away. There is a wistfulness here, a wryness, and, above all, the clarity that comes from a poet who has spent so long perfecting his craft. Slow Fires is a fine collection to read, warm your hands against, and savour. --James Norcliffe