Marrying the Animals

Near the centre of Marrying the Animals, Cornelia Hoogland's new book of poetry, is the sequence In the Meantime: Elizabeth Smart Poems Hoogland's exploration of Smart's obsession with the poet George Barker is an apt heart for this volume, for its abiding spirit is passion. With feather touch and kelp green longing, Hoogland pauses over the minutiae of the daily, of the loved. Her lyric intensity embraces family, friends, lovers and literature. Yet she never ignores the untameable passion that circumscribes both love and language, and shades the familiar into wilderness.

With time, I got better at seeing him off at the gate, the harbour; all the exits. It took days to rid the chair, cup, windowlight of his image. And then the long in-the-meantime learning chair, cup over again. from In the Meantime: Elizabeth Smart Poems