Book Review

Contrary Infatuations

By: Dymphny Dronyk

Category: Poetry

Publisher: Frontenac House

Year Published: 2007

Pages: 92

ISBN: 978-1-897-181-10-2

$15.95 CDN 

4 ½ Stars 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey 

Dymphny Dronyk may look about the age of twelve, but this woman has led a huge life that is probably marked on a well worn heart as opposed to face. Perhaps it is Dronyk`s unique perspective to life that has allowed her to purge the loss of her husband, the years working as a camp cook and on the rigs, the hardships, the sadnesses, the losses, the silences, and yet without the sounds of moans, whines or feeling sorry for herself attached to her book of poems Contrary Infatuations. Instead what occurs is a languid journey; a dichotomy of living ones life without regret, but with great remembrance. The purging…and it is that…of her life into couplets of poems makes for a compelling read of those things which Dronyk loves, hates, endures, and is somehow made up of. 

Contrary Infatuations, from cool title, to subtly enchanting cover, to pages and pages of undeniable stories from Dronyk, is an odyssey of transformation of her own seasons. What else is poetry for? The reader is embraced in vivid images of life’s cyclical nature; from Dronyk`s yearning for connection as her husband leaves their bed early in the morning to work a hard day’s labour, to her sitting vigil at his deathbed in hospital, this is as inviting as sitting with a cup of tea and catching up on the last couple of years of an old friendship. If I was related to Dronyk I’d be proud of her skill as a writer, but more proud of her commitment to telling her journey without flinching. 

It only bares reason that Dronyk, who has run the gamut of life from camp rat to journalist to waitress would take her `all rounder skills` and apply them to her own business centered in mediation. For it seems apparent that Contrary Infatuations is a book of poems wrote by someone who walked through a pile of burning coals and has calmly turned around to see what she has actually experienced.  

Of course, life isn’t all pensive and Dronyk infuses much of her poetry with charm and sophisticated analysis of how we mere humans congregate. She speaks at times of how she made dinner for the camp on virtually nothing, and how the energy of an all male room would change when she entered – some accepting her as a sister, others as a foreign enemy on their territory. Contrary Infatuations seems to be a strong first step in the right direction of a great poetess; Dronyk should have a prolific career ahead of her as a writer.