Customer Reviews

Desert Wood: An Anthology of Nevada Poets (Western Literature)

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This book captures both the sad and the joyful. In the desert, the mountains, and the worlds of relationships. Moody and precise language make this a great read. Spend some time with it!

What a find! This is a great book--49 poets, from 1-17 poems each, averaging maybe 7 each, written 1930-1990. These moving, vital, contemporary poems stand on their own without a Nevada connection. A quote from the editor, Shaun T. Griffin: "My motivation at first for editing this anthology was an undefined desire to see Nevada poets represented in more than passing form. But now...it is because of the poetry itself that I edit this book. The poetry made the journey worth the coming home." By Adrian C Lewis: THE CHICKEN BLUES/Outside his room the rain/sizzles upon government roofs./Inside, he fries chicken thighs/and tries not to spatter his unmade bed./Whispers circuit through the smoke./Tiny faces dance in the grease/and leap to his hand/to sink their teeth./Faces of all the women who cooked for him./He still lurks in the shadows of their eggshell skirts/and if he is fragile in his solitude/and scrambled beyond measures/of good, white taste/it is because of reasons he has yet to manufacture./He is the master of excuses./He will quite drinking tomorrow/he has said for twenty years/but then again, maybe he won't." Run, don't walk....