John Montague has never forgotten the mysteries of language or the lessons we encounter in the life-long process of learning how to speak. Sometimes that speech is a remembering of childhood innocence or disappointment; sometimes it's the division from the self, the whisperings of a cloven tongue, the pangs of self-consciousness. In Speech Lessons, the poet masterfully expresses his thoughts on religion, art and culture, as well as family, provincial and national history.