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THE WEIGHT OF DUST
Poems by C.E. Laine

Writer’s Club Press, 2003.  136p.
ISBN 0-595-26943-5

In her second full-length collection of poetry, C.E. Laine proves that a minimalist approach to writing and to observing situations poetically is essential.  Her stark and evocative verse fuses conversational tones (as though the poet is aware of her readership) with the revelatory aspect of private, diarist writing.  In fact, many of her haiku sequences in The Weight of Dust, are reminiscent of pages one might find in a poet’s notebook: sketches, slight meanderings, all aimed at recording as much of life and its travails as possible.  These haiku sequences are astounding in their craftsmanship, and it is not unwise to say that Laine stands at the forefront of those writing the contemporary, modern haiku. 

The recurring images throughout this collection succeed in building a book based upon, and perhaps framed by, memory and recollection.  The reader encounters nameless inhabitants of the poet’s past and is struck by the powerful relationships that always seem to end in death.  As Laine states in the title poem, these figures, these figments “carry no tune; only the weight of dust.” 

And yet this is not a collection of sorrow alone.  Countered with the dust and desolation and sometimes violent associations (as in “Some Girls in Juarez”), is a recurring theme of flight.  This theme comes across literally in the poem “My Drug of Choice Has Wings,” in which Laine describes her love of aviation; in fact, a previous poem has her reminiscing about French author-aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  There is this actuality and then there is also the notion of metaphoric flight, of transcending experience, a notion that saves both the poet, her memories, and also the language itself which is seen to have a healing power all its own. 

“Broken,” an early poem in the collection, laments the loss of a tangible language, one that can be molded to fit any experience; Laine feels here that “words don’t mend / what’s been damaged.”  It is noteworthy that this early poem is then later countered by “Because Mountains Remain,” a poem about the primal aspects of language which recognizes the duplicitous nature of words: words can be “claws / and can split stone” but they can also be “empty / hollow things.” 

This progression from lamenting to acknowledgement and, finally, to acceptance, is a powerful part of The Weight of Dust.  Incredibly readable and emotionally challenging, this collection is certainly an important addition to contemporary poetry as it shows the poet in the act of creation.  Whether creating her own self, her words and her verse, or else fashioning from memory images of the past, C.E. Laine proves that spare verse can capture and cage these elements of existence—she says in “Inheriting Books”: “I saved him in those pages”—and that the written word (despite language’s flaws) is unarguably vital.