A Year in the Life of a Cross Border Commuter: Poetry, Humor and Photography Created in Canada and the United States

By Shawn Lacey

To be clear, this book won't make you wealthy or help you lose weight.  This author is widely acclaimed not at all as this is his first book.

This is a collection of nearly 60 poems written during his travels for business and pleasure in both countries.  The book is arranged as 12 chapters corresponding to the months of the year with humorous content beginning and ending each chapter.  The author is a geologist whose work has taken him across the border into Canada many times.  He has had the opportunity to be exposed in a broad way to the Canadian culture and environment, which stimulated him to record many of his observations in the form of poetic musings, humorous poetry, humorous anecdotes and photography.  206 pages as EPUB, 287 pages as MOBI on Amazon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shawn Lacey
• Release date: Dec 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519950536

Shawn Lacey

Shawn Lacey lives in Port Townsend, Washington with his wife and cats.  He enjoys hiking, backpacking, camping, tennis, and his music. He has climbed mountains in Colorado, Wyoming (the Grand Teton) and Mexico.  He has also trekked in Nepal.  He plays a number of instruments, composing and recording rock, jazz and experimental music.  He is currently working on his fourth album.  His photography is available online at FINE ART AMERICA and his music can be found on CDBABY and BANDCAMP as well as many streaming sites.  He also has a manuscript sitting in a drawer (literally) for a novel he wrote in the 90's about what really might have happened to the three men who escaped Alcatraz without a trace in 1963.  He has never done anything with it because he thinks it should be a screenplay.

Book preview

Reviews for A Year in the Life of a Cross Border Commuter

[David Russell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This work consists of 12 sections – one ‘per month’ and is punctuated by some dazzling landscape photography based on Shawn’s extensive travels over two countries. His profession as a geologist has certainly fine-tuned his eye for locations. His attitude to his readership is interesting: “I do not believe I am that erudite/I'll leave to you the critical thinking.”
For this review, I have selected five poems which I find to be outstanding.
The Leprechaun’s Gold moves into the area of metaphysical quest, for the elusive rainbow’s end. The Leprechaun is fully updated, with an electronic tablet; he tempts the young man to video-gamble for the gold. The young man plays, to no effect, until he begins to be sucked in to the video game (to his doom) – a fully updated cautionary fairy tale.

A Song That Haunts Me – I lived through the Fifties, and think this poem refers to the music of Mantovani, which featured multi-tracked, incredibly sweet strings. Yes; I am at that time of life when the ‘old chestnuts’ tend to surface. They are probably crucial formative influences: “Specific neural pathways are formed in our youth/Which predispose us to liking certain things.” It is unusual not to be able to locate a number on YouTube.

Things You See Walking in a Small to Medium-Sized Town – great description with “There I see leaf imprints embedded in the concrete/Of the sidewalk for half a block down the street/They look like fossils in some ancient environment there/Concrete poured in Autumn with leaves flying through the air” – a flash of in-depth observation.

Parse Your Mama – some legitimate scepticism about media jargon: “The planet gets smaller and smaller/Which means more people with whom to be politically correct/More outright conflict and often social obstacles get taller/Could social media actually aggravate a ‘communication disconnect’? ‘Caliginousness’ (state of being dark and misty) is also new to me.

The Story of Thanksgiving – Parody: this is a very witty piece of juggling of historical details – including Pilgrim Fathers sailing in Columbus’s ships, Navaho Indians participating; great fun! Thanksgiving Feast – another cynical take on that festival: “The next day you will see a lot more people at the gym/Frantically trying to work their way back to being thin.

This collection, literally and metaphorically, is painted on a broad canvas. The predominant ‘travelogue’ narrative verse is liberally punctuated – spiced with lyricism and wit, perceptivity and sensitivity. I have always been a lover of illuminated manuscript. The practise of illustrating poems has now become a desirable norm. Shawn’s photographs (and perhaps some of his matching verbal descriptions, are worthy of inclusion in the National Geographical Magazine. I think this could be immediately attract browsers in places like doctors’ waiting rooms, and then draw them into thought- provoking areas of depth and subtlety.

David Russell