Pilgrim's Gait

Pilgrim's Gait by David Craig, 121 pages

The bulk of David Craig's awkward and beautiful book Pilgrim's Gait is taken up by a presumably autobiographical tale, "The Madonna's House", and "From the Assidua of St Anthony", a series of fifteen poems inspired by St Anthony of Padua.  A dedication of sorts that appears after the latter work gives an idea of Craig's influences and aims:

     The Beat Catholic Line

        -for Kerouac, Merton, Everson,

        Levertov, Dylan, Berrigan, Cohen,

        Springsteen, Mariani, Waits, Wright,

        Daniels, and Karr

If Craig does not quite manage to place his own name amongst this beatific company, he does show that there is life in the tradition.  James, the main character in "The Madonna's House", is a startlingly honest image of a young man thirsty for experience, desperate to appear more experienced than he is, defensively cynical as a protection against seeming to care, who finds himself drifting into a strange place where care is a way of life.  "From the Assidua of St Anthony", meanwhile, manages to introduce the 13th century Franciscan as a figure who feels contemporary without removing him from his own time.   After this, Craig's return to more conventional beat-down content and style for the last few pages is somewhat jarring, until the contrasts begin to highlight the continuities and all is grace.