The poems in Bearings are arranged in the stressful rhythm of alternation between the intense states of being in love and/or with someone or being alone. Loss refines the vision. For Rhonda Batchelor's poetry that means a gain which shows, for example, in occasional tender lyrics about experiences not governed by love and in the tang of the west coast in her poems, though setting is never the central thing. The centre is love, particularized with an art that revitalizes the ancient subject.

Rhonda Batchelor has worked in and around publishing, as a writer, editor, publisher, bookseller and consultant, since 1977. From 1990 to 1997 she and her late husband, the poet Charles Lillard operated Reference West, a small literary press publishing over 100 chapbooks of poetry and short fiction by some of Canada's finest writers. Her own poetry titles include Bearings (Brick Books), Interpreting Silence and Weather Report (Beach Holme Publishers). A chapbook from Leaf Press, And roll from me like water: the erotic tanka suite, was published in the fall of 2006 and a teen novel, She Loves You, was released by Dundurn Press in 2008. Her poetry, fiction, reviews and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Rhonda has lived on Vancouver Island since 1971 and holds a BFA from The University of Victoria. She is currently the Assistant Editor of The Malahat Review.

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