Jonathan Ball reviews A halt, which is empty in Winnipeg Free Press

Jonathan Ball was good enough to provide a second review of my spring 2019 poetry title, A halt, which is empty (Mansfield Press) in Winnipeg Free Press. Thanks so much! This is actually the second review of the book, after Mary Kasimor recently reviewed the same. You can see Ball's original review here.

Rob McLennan’s A halt, which is empty (Mansfield, 132 pages, $17) presents a series of short sequences revolving around a variety of issues, somewhat connected by an investigation of place.

But what truly unites them is McLennan’s interest in the comma. "Strength of the adhesive, doctor blade. A corridor of slipping, cellular. / Geometry, the paper gulp (…) Kiss, pendulum lips. Like I was, never." Throughout the collection, McLennan uses commas to bend sentences out of shape, or graft two disconnected ideas. The result is some of the prolific poet’s best recent work.