Throughout the years, Anne Campbell's work has remained consistently engaging, her tone steady and trustworthy and her control of imagery precise. There are subtle changes in her presentation of the natural world and slight shifts in the metaphysical approach to space, time, and possibility. But in this retrospective there is no doubt that her strength lies in her ability to capture the transcendence that occurs when nature informs the mind and the commonplace rises to philosophical insight. Though universal in scope, the poems only give up all their richness upon slow and careful readings.
The Fabric of Day is an offering to readers who want to know about emotional and spiritual survival and how a creative person confronts regrets and failures through a medium like poetry. The subject matter is as old as time and as contemporary as any authentic Facebook page or blog, except that the language employed is both beautiful as it is impacting.
Campbell's poetic style is specific, local, and universal at the same time. Her images are powerful and her language honed to land and sky, horizon to earth. Her ability to illuminate common and intimate natural forces and how they play out against people's emotions and alter their lives demonstrates great lyric power full of finesse, grace, and passion. Her voice declares its territory with a careful control of rhythm and space on the page and a gentle insistence to expectation on the ear.
About the Author: Anne Campbell is an award-winning author offive collectionsof poetry and of popular non-fiction. Readings of her work, workshops, and musical compositions with Tom have taken her across Canada, the USA, and Britain. Her many awards include the City of Regina Writing Award, the Mayor's Arts Award, and the Mayor's Heritage Award.
In her work at the Regina Public Library, Campbell administered Canada's first public Writer-in-Residence program; as a long-time Saskatchewan arts and heritage activist, she served on the boards of The Writers Union of Canada, the Writers Development Trust, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and, presently, the Heritage Committee of the Wascana Centre Authority. Campbell lives in Regina.