Half Wild, though one would not guess this from the title, is a quiet, meditative book of poetry. Mary O'Reilley's poems have immense tranquility, and as I read them I sometimes was tripped by the undertow of the voice that speaks in them. The last few lines of "Boreal Owl" demonstrate the seductive Zen in her poetry: "Longing, she says, / compels nothing/ Not even a mouse to run." Poems such as "Snowblind" and "We Keep Asking the Prairie" miniaturize the brutality of life cycles on the prairie while illustrating the psychological terrain. "The Zen Master's Instructions" also has this theme:
Stand like the deerIt is interesting that O'Reilley pairs hunting with meditation. We are shown this with the image of the owl, and the deer anticipating the hunter. From these poems, we understand that inner silence may be achieved, even during times of being fearful and vulnerable. Bleakness also seems to be a theme in these poems. We encounter crime photos, miscarriages, and a nun's loneliness among other scenes of silence and dismay. Throughout these different scenarios, one can retreat to a mental stillness. Though the reader is not uplifted by these poems, s/he can find some serenity in the melancholy.
Half Wild may be seen as collection of poems that deal with the winter of the mind; though we might be undergoing harsh circumstances, we can always be assured of the crystalline silence of the night.
- Jesmia Avery