REVIEW: Minago Streets

Literary Review by Rhonda Wicks, Canadian Poet, Freelance Artist, Journalist, and Cartoonist

"Minago Streets was a joy to read. Donna Allard's talented hand blends maritime culture with global concepts and social issues with personal ones as she observes with neutrality yet, all the while, remaining

involved. The reader is drawn in with an ability to relate to each piece in some way. Of particular interest for me was how Donna artistically manipulates the structure of "Minago" to accurately represent its topic

of family life and death as a combination of poetry and prose. Delightful!"

Ronda Eller

Canadian Poetry Association 2006 Poetry Competition

3rd PLACE:

Ravens’ Cry

Tribute to Canada’s Peoples Poet Milton Acorn

(Originally Titled "The Ghost Who Is")

by Donna Allard

there was a man named Acorn who was adored by a few

now a written outcast by a tittered latent Isle

an indigo literary vision of ol’ Charlottetown’s Victorian Row

I was young, too young to know,

why a man chose a life so wretched in most people’s eyes

cornered once during a walk, he looked me eye to eye,

but I still could not see…

this thirst for knowledge he wished to share with me

but thanks to people, unlike me who judged and theorized,

saw within those eyes and

let it not be forgotten…

a certain Acorn had fallen from a Red Oak Tree

picking up from its earthy base a privileged wisdom

many will never see…

passing an indigo Raven cry’s

a silent tears journey rain bowed

upon silken blue Island sky’s

Judges Comment: As a longtime friend & acolyte of Milton Acorn, I couldn't resist including a poem subtitled "Tribute to Canada's Peoples Poet" ... The poem is short enough to almost qualify as one of Acorn's creations, a jackpine sonnet. The language is clean but creative ("a tittered latent Isle" is a great neologism & accurate description of Prince Edward Island). Milton visits my friends & me often in his crow & raven incarnations, and I'm pleased to see his memory kept alive and vital in the CPA!