cover image Water Planet: Poems

Water Planet: Poems

Mary Rudge. Gateway Arts, $5 (93pp) ISBN 978-0-935327-00-7

The bedrock of Rudge's poetry is humanitarianism, a vision of a world where peace and harmony reign triumphant over baser instincts. ""Remembering Atlantis'' recalls the mythical paradise lost and hints that Armageddon be forestalled. ``Poem for Drowned Children'' argues that mourning for innocents is and must be universal. There is a kind of old-fashioned, idealistic love-child mentality at work here that is no less appealing than it was a generation ago. It requires a hard, dead soul to remain unmoved by ``Graveward to Ireland,'' wherein only women remain to bear the last coffin after all their men have died in the Troubles. These are dreamy and sometimes woozy poems. (March)