Clouds: On the Wind by Gary W. Burns

Clouds: On the Wind is another lovely book of poetry by Gary Burns, adding another naturalistic collection to his oeuvre.

Splitting the collection into four parts – “Clouds Moonlit,” “Cloudy Day Doorway,” “Windswept,” “Wind Song” – was an ingenious idea by Burns, as it has the effect of moving the reader through space, from night into day, as if on a gust of wind. The illustrations at the beginning of each poem are also a delight, and enhance the imagery, rather than leading the reader.

The opening poem, “Quietly There You Be,” is a tone-setter. An undercurrent of longing runs through the poem, but it also lifts the reader up, and one feels, as though in meditation, separated from the body. This sense of the ethereal permeates these poems – the way the wind moves softly yet determinedly throughout the collection conjures the image of one walking on clouds. What Burns does so effectively in this collection, and in his other works, is weave the natural with the spiritual.

Though the subtitle “Poems for the Soul – A Meditation” may strike some as veering towards New Age, or lightweight, poesy, the poems in Clouds are both serious and calming. When combined with Burns’ collection Garden Walks (reviewed here on SPR), which concentrates on natural beauty, the two collections offer a profound appreciation of both the material and non-material world.

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