In David Hillen’s first collection of poetry, Even Our Shadows Dance, everyday life is a profoundly rich experience of wide-ranging insights, acute sensitivity, and humane judgement. The world and life in it become new again. Hillen’s poetic language is apt and precise. In poems of subtle eloquence and incisive criticism he says what he means and what he says is memorable. Even Our Shadows Dance is a book to be savoured.
Hillen’s eye falls again and again on the riches and poverty of the man-made world: his restaurants, parades, staff meetings, and household chores ring too true. But it is his attention to the heart – its concerns and yearning for “unregretted life” – that makes this collection so rewarding. He is playful and profound, cutting through contemporary clutter with faith and intellect. Hillen reminds us of what lies hidden, and is sometimes denied, in ourselves. Transformation abound: his poems stay with you, like keys to escape “the dungeon of detail” in which we live.
David Hillen has authored stories, poetry, and articles for magazines and newspapers including: Maclean’s, The United Church Observer, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and The Hamilton Spectator. His poems have appeared most recently in Green’s Magazine, Tower, Kairos, Acta Victorinana, Dreamspeaker and Descent. He is married with four children and lives in the center of Hamilton with his wife Janet, with whom he is co-author of the book, Living Downtown: Familiarity Breeds Content.
Chris Pannell, author of Under Old Stars
ISBN 0-921980-22-1
6" x 9”, 80p
Paperback
2003
Poetry
$14.95 CND
$12.00 USD
