PEI poet Gerry Bradley will celebrate the release of his second book of poetry, Passing the Yoke and Other Poems: Kelly’s Cross, Charlottetown and Away, with a book launch on August 16 at 5 pm at the Pourhouse in Charlottetown. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The poems speak of a life beginning in Charlottetown. But this is not always the Charlottetown of Perrier luncheons on Victoria Row. It is a Charlottetown shaped by the limitations of class structure and the empty heroics of brawling in smoky bars. It is a selfish Charlottetown that refuses to acknowledge a hero’s homecoming. The poems also move into the larger world of the skid-row districts of major cities and those who struggle with poverty, mental health, and addictions. They then travel farther in geography and back in time to the shores of Ireland, where characters seek a new God through building with stone or ponder the spiritual nature of the sounds found in traditional music. There is even a poem written in the Irish language.

Although touched with humour, Passing the Yoke and Other Poems is not a book for the faint of heart. It reflects a native sensibility that travels through time and the wider world in search of decency and meaning.