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In this fine collection, Gail Sidonie Sobat explores profound themes of love, loss, and the passage of time. The first section, Badlands, constructs a narrative of a young couple divided by war and tragedy, their story so poignant it never quite leaves the remaining pages. The middle collection of poems, Sailing to Byzantium, sweeps readers across the ocean dropping them squarely into the heat and noise of an Istanbul market.
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A piercing impression of longing permeates this section, troubling the finality of the first narrative, as if the lover’s grief is embodied, restless. The final collection, How the Light is Spent, replaces the exoticism of the former section with more familiar scenes, at least for Canadian readers. A series of poems about winter reveal an almost familiar soul who attempts to “cheat autumn,” mark time, and rage against the dying light.
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