The Taste of Giving: New and Selected Poems, review by George Woodcock, B.C. Bookworld

     In one of my earlier columns I wrote of a recent volume by Carolyn Zonailo, Zen Forest, and now I have the thick selection of the poems written from 1975 onwards, The Taste of Giving. It has become a common practice among Canadian poets to issue at various points in their careers these retrospective books that bring one up to date on their work, and a good one, I think.

     Certainly it is interesting to observe the evolution of Zonailo's verse from their rather self-conscious beginnings, with their whiff of creative writing school, to the freer, more open and emotionally involved later works. I particularly like those springing from her Doukhobor heritage.

Copyright by George Woodcock: www.carolynzonailo.com, 2004.