Customer Reviews

Credo

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This second book by up-and-coming Canadian poet, Carmine Starnino suffers from terminal pretentiousness, limp conservatism and an unforgivable bout of bad ear. I saw Starnino read from his first book in Ottawa a few years ago, and was pleasantly struck by the sincerity and youthful energy in his albeit turgid poetry. At that point, I was hoping this young poet would be able to emerge from the overbearing weight of his obvious influences: David Solway and Eric Ormsby (two writers also based in Montreal), and find his own voice. Unfortunately, what we get here, is more simplistic, untruthful, poems about the writer's Italian origins, and heavy-handed formal poems that, while showing a keen interest in word-play, utimately come off as derivative, preachy, and well... boring. In "Credo" what we end up with is a young writer who is striving to write like a "master", sounding old and tired beyond his years. Let's hope that Starnino can rediscover some the vigour that I witnessed at his reading in Ottawa, and come up with something more imaginative and fresh than what is presented in this quite disposable collection.

The credo, which was written by my cousin carmine is good stuff... if yur the kind of person who likes to read good stuff.

Have a good time,