The poems in Falling Body, David Cavanagh's second collection, cover ground with quirkiness, precision, and grace.
They move the way a life moves - in and out of personal and public territory, past and present perspectives, inner and outer worlds. They chart inevitable falls and celebrate, sometimes with wry humour, sometimes with muted joy, getting up again. The poems touch down lightly on large topics and move on, nervous of becoming trapped in easy certainties. They love the complexities while yearning for simplicity. In a world of distraction, they focus on paying attention:
If you sit still long
enough, everything you
haven't thought of
begins to move
across a screen
you didn't know
was there. Now's
the chance to slow-dance
with essentials.
David Cavanagh's first book, The Middleman (Salmon, 2003), was praised for "struggling with difficult truths" and for its mixture of "bold imagery, colloquial language and stinging humour" (Margot Harrison, Seven Days). Falling Body extends this exploration into new situations with language both layered and evocative. A native of Montreal with Irish ancestry and dual Canadian/ American citizenship, David Cavanagh lives a mingled existence in Burlington, Vermont, and is an associate dean at Johnson State College.
They move the way a life moves - in and out of personal and public territory, past and present perspectives, inner and outer worlds. They chart inevitable falls and celebrate, sometimes with wry humour, sometimes with muted joy, getting up again. The poems touch down lightly on large topics and move on, nervous of becoming trapped in easy certainties. They love the complexities while yearning for simplicity. In a world of distraction, they focus on paying attention:
If you sit still long
enough, everything you
haven't thought of
begins to move
across a screen
you didn't know
was there. Now's
the chance to slow-dance
with essentials.
David Cavanagh's first book, The Middleman (Salmon, 2003), was praised for "struggling with difficult truths" and for its mixture of "bold imagery, colloquial language and stinging humour" (Margot Harrison, Seven Days). Falling Body extends this exploration into new situations with language both layered and evocative. A native of Montreal with Irish ancestry and dual Canadian/ American citizenship, David Cavanagh lives a mingled existence in Burlington, Vermont, and is an associate dean at Johnson State College.