In the Scaffolding

Readers and critics who warmed to the fine intelligence of his debut collection will be astonished and delighted to see how much Eric Miller has matured as a poet in the six years since Song of the Vulgar Starling first appeared in 1999. In the beautifully constructed and perceptive poems of his new collection, In the Scaffolding, Miller moves fluidly from one delight to another. Fatherhood and the imagined world of the infant, the overabundant complexity of Nature, the mind's endless curiosity, and the inner life of birds are just some of the topics that fall under the lens of this versatile and vibrant poet. Governor General's Award nominee Lynn Davies says that Miller's work shows "how words can move us into the process of recognition." With his long, floating rhapsodic sentences and exquisite metaphorical structures, Miller has often been compared with the great Romantic poet Shelley. Certainly few writers today can match his gifts for expressive language and surprising poetic rhythms.