What We Did With Old Moons

There is a whole generation of readers out there weaned on teenage wizards and supernatural romances who, quite naturally, have come to think of literature as inherently magical. When it comes to poetry, they are quite often disappointed. From their erspective, the problem with the contemporary work professors encourage them to admire isn't that it's too mature, too academic, too wryly cynical or too baldly confessional--the more fundamental issue is that it isn't even fictional. In this regard, M. V. Montgomery's What We Did With Old Moons is clearly an exception. In the playful spirit of Calvino or Saint-Exupéry, it spins myths out of ancient rituals and urban legends, made-up monsters and divinities, familiar and alien worlds. It's a funny and entertaining book likely to remind readers of all ages what once attracted them to poetry.