SELECTED POEMS OF ELIZABETH BREWSTER, 1944-1977. Brewster, Elizabeth. Ottawa, Oberon Press, c1985. 158pp, paper, ISBN 0-88750-595-3 (cloth) $23.95, 0-88750-596-1 (paper) $12.95. SELECTED POEMS OF ELIZABETH BREWSTER, 1977-1984. Brewster, Elizabeth. Ottawa, Oberon Press, c1985. 107pp, paper, ISBN 0-88750-598-8 (cloth) $23.95, 0-88750-599-6 (paper) $12.95. Grades 12 and up Reviewed by donalee Moulton-Barrett Volume 14 Number 3 1986 May "(Elizabeth) Brewster's achievement is impressive and somewhat neglected by critics," writes Tom Marshall in the introduction to Selected Poems of Elizabeth Brewster, 1944-1977 and 1977-1984, the latter a fact, I am sure, he hopes will be corrected by the publication of these two volumes. All the complimentary things Marshall has to say about the New Brunswick poet and her writing are undoubtedly accurate: the obvious detachment, the division between reality and imagination, the increasing relaxation of her poetry, and the large vision of her later work. The eloquence of Brewster's writing is reflected in many poems, including, "Gold Man," a poem from the 1970s. It ends with these lines: "I come from a country/of slow and diffident words/of broken rhythms/of unsaid feelings./Next time I am born/I intend to come/from a different country." There is ultimately a problem for the reader however, and that is sustaining interest in Brewster's work. Part of the problem, of course, is simply the length of the two volumes. There is a lot of poetry here. But that is not all of the problem. Brewster's poetry is dry, and at times, tedious. What Tom Marshall calls a "monologue" often turns to monotony. These opening lines, for example, from "Sunday Morning On The Riverbank, Saskatoon": Late June, mid-morning./A sweet June smell/compounded of grass, flowers/soil, water/the earth sweating/also car exhaust." Well-crafted words, certainly, but also predictable, and flat. The Selected Poems of Elizabeth Brewster are two important volumes for any library shelf, but they are not without flaws. donalee Moulton-Barrett, Halifax, N.S.