Michael deBeyer This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. canadaeast.com - DG Books

   www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.d - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/9/2003   Last Visited: 8/10/2003

   by Michael deBeyer
   ...
   DeBeyer recently graduated with a master's degree in English from the University of New Brunswick.
   
   The book boasts an impressive range of themes from a brusque and reproachful Eternal Return: "You are J.D. Rockefeller and your first move was a mistake," that carries traits that are generally attributed to young writers, to the thoughtful, intelligent and very romantic The Dusks: "What have I / when you and me and we/ have dusk, the 'whose glory be' / of both/ of us?" The poetic value of the latter cannot be under estimated.
   
   Raised in the small farming community of Ayr, Ont., the writer's rural background comes to fore in many of his poems. DeBeyer challenges the mundane discernment of his natural surroundings and linguistically attempts to gain control over his environs.
   
   Rural Night Catalogue is an extraordinary and fascinating combination of intellect and art, even if it is at times tiring for the reader. The writing can be wry and witty and the author's courage to utilize a wide range of structural forms is often successfully expressed in a unique and engaging manner.
   
   However, the reader must take time to comprehend the message underlying this young author's work. It is not a simple task to follow the displacement of the human being and, to quote deBeyer himself, the notion that "the central determining figure of the natural world, to posit humanity as ultimately 'other' to a universe in which it assumes control" is unusually confusing.