Meditations, With Distractions

At the center of James McAuley's new collection-the work of over a decade since his previous book, Coming & Going, New & Selected-is the sequence, "e;God's Pattern,"e; meditations on the Stations of the Cross, an old devotional form of pilgrimage or "e;pattern"e; still practiced in rural parishes of the poet's native country, Ireland. Theme and treatment vary throughout the collection, from somber reflection on the fate of a drunk in a cheap hotel room, "e;Cantata for the Feast of St. Anonymous,"e; to the scathing Celtic-style satire, "e;The Gingriad."e; McAuley is well regarded for his experiments with traditional forms and rhythms: examples included are blank-verse narratives and elegies, a Haiku sequence, sonnets, a variation on the topographical poetry of the seventeenth century, even a carmen figurata. Meditations, With Distractions has the qualities that all good poetry should possess: depth, erudition, accessibility, a joy in the practice of language. Combine these qualities with McAuley's humanity and humor, and the result is a collection that readers will come to enjoy and appreciate more and more with each successive reading.