A solid biographical poem of the contralto Canadian singer, Portia White. Clarke uses his well researched and heavily edited verses to outline not only White's life and career, but the historical times she lived through, from WWI & II to issues of race and nationality in Canada and it's southern neighbor to White's singing for British royalty. The spoken word style of Clarke's verse works for his subject matter, but without reading the biographical sketch as a post-script at the end of the book, some of the verses can remain hard to decipher. However, the poem made me check out her music and I'm grateful for that.