Spend a Few Days with Traveler
Traveler: Poems by Devin Johnston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In Traveler, Devin Johnston shows a range of formal ability including traditionally rhymed verse combined with an eye for nature and an ear for the right sound.
He sees the world in its natural and human history upwelling in geological and meteorological forces:
“In winter, clouds haul water from its source, the ocean basin, welling up by force of deep convection through the troposphere”
His range includes the imagistic and evocative, the intentionally archaic, and the sensual:
“Zipping your skirt, you rustle past, sand hissing through a glass, with the bedouin snap and flash of static-electric sparks disturbing fabric. This morning’s charge could rouse The Desert Fathers of Sinai over which I drowse.”
I recommend spending a few days with this short volume.