Winter, review by Elizabeth Johnston, The Montreal Gazette

     Carolyn Zonailo explores alienation, a popular theme of modern poetry. In varying degrees we’re alienated from ourselves, each other and our society. Yet…this modern malaise is conflated with an ancient preoccupation, fate.

     Zonailo probes her environment in an effort to provide a context for what she sees around her: a chilling alienation between people and cultures.

after the revolution
after we separate
after we become better
                         than you
we’ll own everything

     Zonailo’s poems reveal how easy it is to fall through the cracks of such faulty logic. In order to understand what’s happening now, Zonailo travels to Hell and back incorporating the likes of Jim Morrison and Persephone into her cold poetic landscape to show that “after” is a dangerous and ultimately barren concept.

     One of the great things about the drama festivals in ancient times, was that they provided a forum for political discussion and social action. Zonailo’s chapbook laments society’s alienation from its own poetry and reflects the chilling apathy of the age.

Copyright by Elizabeth Johnston: www.carolynzonailo.com, 2004.