Taking its name from Philosophie des Als Ob, which Hans Vaihinger published in 1911, Fraser Sutherland’s latest poetry collection draws on the German philosopher’s notion of the unknowable nature of reality and the theory that humans, lacking better evidence, construct fictional explanations for their existences.

This is, essentially, the basis of the imagination. The speaker in “The Least Pornophilic of Men,” hearing “a woman in apparent ecstacy [sic]” through the wall of his apartment, imagines her to be engaged with a male lover. His assumption, while potentially accurate, cannot be proven, given the limited observable evidence.

Often in these poems, the poet-speaker acknowledges the limitations of perception: our inability to comprehend what can be only partially observed. The medical emergency in “At the Deli” remains unresolved because the observer leaves the scene. “This story could have several outcomes,” Sutherland writes, and then proceeds to offer a number of possibilities.

Likewise, the speaker in “French Quarter, New Orleans,” who sees two lovers kissing in the street in the early hours of the morning, imbues the event with his own meaning. “I can see / this is important because it seems to be,” Sutherland writes, “and seems important because it is.”

The final poem, “And All Shall Be Redeemed,” is a fanciful revision of reality (sustained over 20 pages), where “straitjackets shall be lifejackets, and mad people less sincere // and twins shall become one, or else quite separate … // and dentist chairs shall be basket chairs, buckets seats, or bubble baths.” 

Throughout, Sutherland is witty, his poetic persona endearingly self-deprecating. While he occasionally settles for less than he is capable of in terms of technique (there is nothing challenging or compelling about rhyming “sun” with “done,” say, or “sight” with “light”), on the whole, these are competent poems that are enjoyable to read and contemplate.