From Library Journal
The Vietnam War lingers like a shadow behind these tough but gentle poems about hardscrabble life in Texas. Hunting owls, loading a shotgun, and ranching are all made poignant by memories of the terror in Saigon. "We believe/ we will know what we need when we find it," he says about "regions under seige"the mind of the veteran. Psychic disability from mortar attacks must be resolved by a lonely pilgrimage amid cactus and rattlers "like tribal gods." Although a Jack London view predominates, ("Living on hardscrabble, a man is less/ than a wolf and knows it, carries a rifle/ in season or not"), McDonald's is a triumph not merely of survival but of remaining decent in the face of adversity. Frank Allen, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
After The Noise Of Saigon
Backpacking The San Juan
Balance
Between The Moon And Me
Between Two Shores Of Toledo
Breathe Deeply, And Relax
Bull
Caught In A Storm On Hardscrabble
The Children's Hour
Christmas Bells, Saigon
Cousin Billy And The Weather
Crashes Real And Imagined
Crawling Through Caverns
Crosswind Landings
Estacado
The Eyes In Joe Hall's Shed
Fathers And Sons (5)
Flood Fishing
The Food Pickers Of Saigon
For Friends Missing In Action
Goat Ranching
Graves Of Unknown Soldiers
The Guilt Of Survivors
In Green Pastures
Jet Flight, The Early Years
Living On Buried Water
Loading A Shotgun, At Twelve
The Middle Years
My Father Quits Another Job
Nearing The End Of A Century
New Guy
Night Missions
The Night Of Rattlesnake Chili
Nothing To Do But Start Over
An Object Set In Motion
Old Men Fishing At Brownwood
The One That Got Away
Praise
Reasons For Taking Risks
Rig-sitting
The Rodeo Fool
Setting The Torch To Stubble
Sundown
War Games
Watching For Ships Off Padre Island
The Way The World Ends
We Called It Entering Heaven
When Children Think You Can Do Anything
The Winter They Bombed Pearl Harbor
With A Woman Who Looks Like Crystal Gayle
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
Backpacking The San Juan
Balance
Between The Moon And Me
Between Two Shores Of Toledo
Breathe Deeply, And Relax
Bull
Caught In A Storm On Hardscrabble
The Children's Hour
Christmas Bells, Saigon
Cousin Billy And The Weather
Crashes Real And Imagined
Crawling Through Caverns
Crosswind Landings
Estacado
The Eyes In Joe Hall's Shed
Fathers And Sons (5)
Flood Fishing
The Food Pickers Of Saigon
For Friends Missing In Action
Goat Ranching
Graves Of Unknown Soldiers
The Guilt Of Survivors
In Green Pastures
Jet Flight, The Early Years
Living On Buried Water
Loading A Shotgun, At Twelve
The Middle Years
My Father Quits Another Job
Nearing The End Of A Century
New Guy
Night Missions
The Night Of Rattlesnake Chili
Nothing To Do But Start Over
An Object Set In Motion
Old Men Fishing At Brownwood
The One That Got Away
Praise
Reasons For Taking Risks
Rig-sitting
The Rodeo Fool
Setting The Torch To Stubble
Sundown
War Games
Watching For Ships Off Padre Island
The Way The World Ends
We Called It Entering Heaven
When Children Think You Can Do Anything
The Winter They Bombed Pearl Harbor
With A Woman Who Looks Like Crystal Gayle
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
