[.ca] Moy Sand and Gravel (ISBN 0374214808)

Good Stuff:
Here's a Muldoon pastiche: Basement Then to spy in an unused cellar spot Under a bulb fixture long since jury-rigged in deal cast-off And between oil tank and salt-scalloped stone wall --Between a ruck and a carapace-- A tiny skeleton--mouse. My instinct: to trip-tipsy the dark --As even the Dean and Cuchulain might-- fantastic. \oMy opinion is that Muldoon peaked in 1990 with his tour de force, MADOC--A Mystery, the book-length poem and astounding work of the imagination. MADOC was large, confounding, mysterious, lyrical, and sui generis (really). Yet many readers/reviewers did not appreciate it. Since that work, Muldoon seemingly has tried to obtain such appreciation by offering more manageable fare--featuring topical themes, easy wit, sentiment, form, and rhyme (not to mention all those pretty names of Irish places). He has served up plates of warm apercus. If that is your thing--fine. He is terribly accomplished--his more recent poems, including those of Moy Sand and Gravel, sparkle with polish and panache. But I will take the polar edge of the creative MADOC thankyouverymuch.\c