Gerry links Gwendolyn MacEwen's poetry with the Canadian mystical tradition, referring back to Nova Scotia mystic, Norman Alline, and writer David Willson, an ex-Quaker who founded the Children of Peace. All three mystics use language to open the reader to a renewed sense of life's possibilities. Both Alline and Willson drew their imagery from the tradition of German mystic Jacob Boehme. MacEwen's distinctive stance derives in part from her feminism: MacEwen subverts the dominant discourse of male mysticism in order to voice herself as woman and mystic. MacEwen de-emphasizes the disputing of opposites to reveal a transitional passage (a birth) between polarities.
