From Kirkus Reviews
This first full-length volume by a University of Nevada (Reno) professor gets by on its modest charms and singular ambition: Pahmeier explores the mysteries of the human heart and celebrates the men in her life. She does so largely through a character named Emma, who shares her winning ways throughout, confessing her love of the boys and her happiness in the kitchen. The lovely poems about her father recall in snapshot form a wealth of fond memories: playing dolls with her when her mother was away (Barbie, Ken, and Emmas Daddy); learning baseball at the World Series with him (Emma Remembers Something of the World Series); and being pushed by him on swings (The Swing). Driving and cars provide a particular bond: What will I tell my children when he is gone?/ He was a quiet man who could make things run. Pahmeier surveys other relationships less convincinglysome contemplating breakup, others haunted by violence. The simple language of pickup trucks, meatloaf, baseball, and country music can't sustain this mostly lighthearted volume over the long haul. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
And I Like The Sucking Sound The Air Brakes Make
Barbie, Ken, And Emma's Daddy
Bow Fishing With My Sister
The Business Of Knives
Coming Home From Niagara Falls
Emma Remembers Something Of The World Series
Fathers With Daughters
For An Anniversary
For My Sister, Brenda: To Be Read While Riding In The Pickup To Nc
Grief Comes In Smallest Ways
Having Gone Alone To Her Hotel Room After The Conference,an Aging...
Her Kiss, Redeemed
In A Small Tavern Off Highway 395 She Gives This Guy Her Best Ear
In A Town Too Cold For Baseball
Kind Of Like Camping: A Love Story
Lines Too Long For A Postcard
Miracle Of Earth
More Moons Than One
The Mouths Of Women
My Mother's Story About The Dog
Neighbors
Out Walking
Photograph Of Her Parents, Dancing: 1956
The Promise Of Good Food
Recalling Warm Weather
She Writes To Her Lover, Whose Hair Is Thick And Clean
So This Is What Happened
Sometimes Our Gifts Are Small And Fast
Sunday Baking
The Swing
Take This Advice
Telephone Call
This, The Body
When You Love Someone For A Long Time
Why People Move
The Wife Of Noah Comforts The Young Bride Of Their Son
With Respect For Distance
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
Barbie, Ken, And Emma's Daddy
Bow Fishing With My Sister
The Business Of Knives
Coming Home From Niagara Falls
Emma Remembers Something Of The World Series
Fathers With Daughters
For An Anniversary
For My Sister, Brenda: To Be Read While Riding In The Pickup To Nc
Grief Comes In Smallest Ways
Having Gone Alone To Her Hotel Room After The Conference,an Aging...
Her Kiss, Redeemed
In A Small Tavern Off Highway 395 She Gives This Guy Her Best Ear
In A Town Too Cold For Baseball
Kind Of Like Camping: A Love Story
Lines Too Long For A Postcard
Miracle Of Earth
More Moons Than One
The Mouths Of Women
My Mother's Story About The Dog
Neighbors
Out Walking
Photograph Of Her Parents, Dancing: 1956
The Promise Of Good Food
Recalling Warm Weather
She Writes To Her Lover, Whose Hair Is Thick And Clean
So This Is What Happened
Sometimes Our Gifts Are Small And Fast
Sunday Baking
The Swing
Take This Advice
Telephone Call
This, The Body
When You Love Someone For A Long Time
Why People Move
The Wife Of Noah Comforts The Young Bride Of Their Son
With Respect For Distance
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
