Leona Gom

I find poetry difficult to review as it's quite subjective to the mind of the reader. Leona Gom's book focuses on past rural living, and carries a sort of nostalgia but not necessarily a happy one. Living in the Peace River region at the time, I also felt a familiarity with the material in some of the poems.

Specific poems that stick out to me are those dealing with nature while on the homestead, and the realities of life at the time: the ragged edge of a field where nature can't be controlled, and a question posed about whether the "good old day" are really as good as we like to think. I had the opportunity to attend a reading and that helped to put more context and perspective into the writing and I feel I appreciated the poems more. I would recommend that for any fan of a poet, should the opportunity present itself.… (meer)