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Reviews of
Proof of
a Tongue

 

 
Proof of a Tongue
Sandra Alland, published by McGilligan Books
Edited by Stuart Ross
  • ISBN: 1-894692-08-X, 1500 copies
  • $16.95 (£7)
  • poetry
  • 104pp
  • 2004

Proof of a Tongue eloquently establishes a new poetic voice worthy of serious attention. Sandra Alland writes with dry wit and mature assurance, grounding a sophisticated metaphysical vocabulary in the colloquial. Language is a perfect tool in her hands. Proof of a Tongue describes Scarborough as a "town of serial killers and suicide vistas" and asserts that inflection can soothe with "miraculous breath." From "the sadness teenage girls have difficulty naming" to boys who draw "'VanGogh/Kahlo sandwiches" Sandra Alland gazes slyly at life, smoothly piercing the surfaces of meaning. Alland exerts a deft control of subject and language.