1984 (Sono Nis):
ISBN-10: 0919203310
ISBN-13: 978-0919203310

A collection of twelve sonnets, spread over a year, each dedicated to the poet’s daughter and a particular day in her life.

Reviews:

Seasonal is an exquisitely refined suite of poems…The lovely musicality of Smith’s phrasing in literally every line of Seasonal makes his debut volume a rarity in terms of clarity and sophistication.”

–Alan Twigg, The Vancouver Province, July 8, 1984

 

“Ron Smith in Seasonal offers contemplative blank verse sonnets which describe his relationship with his daughter Nicole over the course of a year. The father-daughter relationship occupies a special place in literature, and, like Lear, Smith finds his spiritual self changing through his daughter. The series reminds one a little of W. D Snodgrass’s Heart’s Needle, but where Snodgrasss writes of the anguish of loss, Smith describes a relationship that grows. With the aid of his daughter’s innocent perceptions, Smith finds himself no longer consigned to “Wheel/ around the world at arm’s length” but open to new connections. At the end he reflects on the need to recapture the old magic, “those shadow beings etched into wind/where gull wings lift our voices into air,” the poems themselves forming a testament to the youthful voices of children with their ancient wisdom.”

–University of Toronto Quarterly

 

“Seasonal is a brief, disciplined, joyful dance through the year, weaving together youth and old age, innocence and experience, into a life-affirming wholeness.”

–Neil Querengesser, 1984 CBRA