GYPSY GUITAR: ONE HUNDRED POEMS OF ROMANCE AND BETRAYAL. McFadden, David. Vancouver, Talonbooks. 1987. 112pp. paper. $10.95. ISBN 0-88922-250-9. CIP Adult Reviewed by Doug Watling Volume 16 Number 6 1988 November Gypsy Guitar, a collection of one hundred prose poems apparently inspired by Charles Baudelaire's Petits poèmes en prose, is a departure of sorts for David McFadden. In the preface. McFadden calls these creations "bloated, overblown sonnets." The poems are certainly free-associative and very self-conscious. Almost all the poems approach experience from a Zen/ Eastern perspective. The glue that holds Gypsy Gulf or together is McFadden's relentless analysis of a relationship that leaves him. more often than not, in an emotional muddle. The comings and goings of McFadden's lover give this collection its emotional edge. Gypsy Guitar is tough to pin down. Some poems, like “Terrible Storm on Lake Erie," are simply straightforward and touching: others, like "Caucasian Shower," are agitated and changeable. Unlike earlier volumes—On the Road Again* comes to mind—Gypsy Guitar is not a very premising source of poetry for schools. The absurdity and humour that make McFadden's earlier verse so refreshing for high school students are infrequent here. The prose is also extremely dense. McFadden's book is adept and challenging and probably important, but accessible it isn't. Doug Watling, Halifax, N.S. *Reviewed vol. Vlll/3 Summer 1979 p. 133.