Whether portraying the smell of rain on dry earth or the tops of hills in the fall we are in the presence of a poet able to see reality with a childs clarity and present it with a scholars diction The majority of Yks poems however are about arrivals and departuresincluding births and deathsthe self in exile and lifes elusive meaning Occasionally celebratory but mostly elegiac these poems are deeply existential in ways that make this reviewer think of Camus Myth of Sisyphus H Nigel Thomas author of The Voyage

In A Phial of Passing Memories James Yk captures the significant moments of life with arresting images that shed light on the human experience bringing a measure of balance and confidence to his engagement with travels nature and memorymaking Highly descriptive this collection entertains takes the reader on several journeys and leads one to deep thought It is a worthy addition to the new African diasporic literature Tanure Ojaide Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies The University of North Carolina at Charlotte