Bill Yake
Reviews
Waymaking by Moonlight: New & Selected Poems
"I’ve just finished reading Bill Yake’s Waymaking by Moonlight: New and Selected Poems. As I reflect on the complexity and insight of his vision, I’m left wondering why I’ve never heard of this wonderful poet before now. Put simply, his work is stunning."
"He does not use the language to record what he has seen but rather he sees through the language. The essence of what he perceives reveals itself on the page as if by magic; it is not mere response and description. Such composition is risky because it tests the unknown. It’s at the heart of inspiration."
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Yake is comfortable with his perceptions and imagination no matter which trails he wanders, be they along the northwest coast of North America or more recently, taking exploratory trips to Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Sicily or the illustrated caves of France. He observes and he listens. His poetry’s kin include Whitman, Gary Snyder, and Robert Bringhurst..."
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"His simple request is that we “find heart” in the miracles, beauty and generosity that surround us. I’ve always been in awe of the abundance the best poets promise and Bill Yake is no exception."
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RON SMITH, ORMSBY REVIEW, JULY 24, 2021.
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“The[se] poems all share a meditative quality, inspired by the poetry of nature poets and writers, from Walt Whitman to Gary Snyder, and they’re all about wandering and making one’s way through the world.”
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“... Yake’s poems report on herons and deserts, forest streams and cliffs, zoos and grandchildren. They’re both a celebration of life and a meditation on death, simultaneously adventure-seeking and inward-facing.”
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“Throughout this collection, nature offers exactly what humans need: a respite, as well as a reminder that all things—humans and sand, culture and sage—are connected.”
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"Every once in a while I run across a poetry collection that’s so wonderful I feel compelled to buy all the remaining available copies and press them into my friends’ hands. Although this may be a financial impossibility, This Old Riddle: Cormorants and Rain, an assemblage of poems by Bill Yake that spans three decades, is really terrific enough for any reader to want to share." [Full text - click on image to the right]
HOWARD McCORD, PACIFIC RIM REVIEW OF BOOKS , FALL 2010. PAGE 27.
"Bill Yake continues in Unfurl, Kite and Veer the intense focus and attention both to nature and language that he showed in This Old Riddle: Cormorants and Rain (also beautifully designed and produced by Radiolarian Press). He is a naturalist with a sharp, educated eye at home in wetland, desert, jungle, forests, mountains, and the ocean itself. He is a poet with a command of all the species – significant differences in sounds, rhythms, and sense required to create images flowing in language like creatures to their nesting places..." [Full text - click on image to the right.]
HOWARD McCORD, PACIFIC RIM REVIEW OF BOOKS , FALL 2010. PAGE 27.
