I was not previously aware that Guy Gavriel Kay had “made his mark” as a poet before becoming a novelist. I can perhaps be excused for this, since my awareness of Kay started when I read his first novel (at age 11 or 12). To me, therefore, he’s a novelist, and one that I tend to automatically buy when he releases a new novel.
Yet, while browsing in the bookstore the other day, I found myself looking at Beyond The Dark House, a slim volume of Kay’s poetry. I had to pick it up, of course, just to see.
I have no opinion yet, since this kind of thing is best approached over time, and with reflection. If you want a review, try this short one.
Instead of a review, let me offer one selection that captured my eye on the first cursory pass through:
Various Things
I am the child of a full eclipse.
When I was born the sun
was blocked by the moon.
I have a propensity for alleyways.The women I have allowed myself to
love have been uniformly dark.
One night a girl asked me to hurt her.Later, I went down into the street.
Long before dawn. The city very cold.
No moon. Stars hard and far. A solitary
drunk approached me, singing
to himself. I let him pass.I have never kept a job
for more than half a year.
Various things. I am not
particularly responsible.Now that winter is coming
I am more content than at other times.
In summer I would not have let him go.
