\s mYevtew KALEIDOSCOPE - University of British Columbia

BOOKS IN REVIEWAlthough I have kept few of mypromises —there are three books that bear my name,but I have taught, lectured, and it is all agame.The goal: proportion, order, and harmony,ignoresthe landfalls, guts, and churning tidesuncorkingastern of the shoal-horn's bleat, the coastpilot's caution.Lillard does not entirely forsake the hereand now of his existence :That ploughed field is what matters ;the truth's at oar feetnot out there in the silences.Rather, his somewhat ^indefinable yearningborn of a need for change is an elementwhich figures prominently in ACoastal Range. His is a world in whichman aspires to perfection, in which exaltationand solitude are inseparable.For Lillard, the pleasures of life arethose which seem to capture the movementof time :Alone vast as the space between two words.Alone is a man before the fire, a dog underhis heels;it is Flaubert writing Louise; Cezannewatching the light;it is time pillaged.But of all the images evoked in this collection,one of the more captivating isone in which time cannot destroy theepiphany of nature :What an island and I have lain in herembraceand I will again;somewhere I will watch an eagle and thosestarscloseby as the smokey breath of Tongass,the moonlight ebbing on the sand.It is a transcendent image in which thepure consciousness of the poet foreseesbeauty yet to be attained. The exaltationand anguish in A Coastal Range combineto express a contemplative perception ofman's destiny.In a Canvas Tent, Robert MacLean'sfifth collection of poetry, recounts thepoet's activities as a British Columbiantree planter. Much like Lillard's pieces,MacLean's poems are landmarks along aspiritual itinerary. They do not attempta photographic depiction of those naturalphenomena to which he was witness, butinstead are filters combining images fromboth past and present. Poetry obviouslyallows MacLean to express his restrainedlyricism, and in this way to acknowledgea metaphysical fatigue which is also presentin Lillard's writing: "Tired so tired.Sometimes I find / it hard to generatefaith in anything / except pancakes withmaple syrup."The title of this work is drawn from arecurring image suggesting the poet'snomadic nature :Tent: template. Planting pines 5months each year I turn into an animalwary of all enclosures. Sky roof,horizon walls, earth resilient floor.Sometimes I long for a warm cave.A fixed bivouac, hot cup of teaA structure not to barricade chaosbut to focus it.MacLean's wanderlust seems to be theresult of a deep-rooted dissatisfaction : "Iwant to name all the stars animals /flowers birds rocks in order to forget /them, start over again." However muchhe might wish for a chance to beginanew, the bond to be established with hisenvironment is fragile because of the ravagesof time :Time compressed. Twilight steepedin resin. Pausing on a bridge severedat both ends, a name fell apart in myhand. Does dark gaze back? Stainedglasswindows open and close insidethe earth. Cities shuffle past onthe horizon brokenhanded beggars.I've nothing left to give but crumpledburnt pinecones.Although MacLean does affirm that hopeis necessary in order to realize one's aspirations,he proposes a rather ambiguoussolution to the frustration he feels within141