Customer Reviews

The Long Home

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I learned of Christian Wiman from a marvelous essay he published in The Threepenny Review, in which he talks about reading Milton's "Paradise Lost" in Guatemala. Intrigued, I purchased "The Long Home," and I can say that I was not disappointed. While all the poems are not of equal strength, I've always felt that poets should be judged by their best work, and at least one poem, the sonnet "Revenant," is a masterpiece. In that work, more than in the longer title poem, Wiman shows his gifts as a rigorous thinker: "her white face under the unburdening skies / upturned to feel the burn that never came: / that furious insight and the end of pain." The shape of this poem, on every level, engages the tightly-coiled subject of a woman's singular obsession. I've read this poem many times and as with all great poems each time I discover something new. But the long poem of the book's title, while often moving and evocative of a particular time and place, seems to me to be too loose, occasionally approaching an arbitrarily clipped prose piece. (Wiman has, to my ear, a disagreeable habit of beginning lines with "Of," as in "without a speck / Of paving," "a level cloud / Of cotton," "a single lock / Of cotton..." and so forth. There are several similar examples on nearly every page of the poem.) Despite these reservations, overall this is an excellent volume and I will be eager to read Wiman's next book, and curious to see in what direction his work evolves.

Wiman's work is largely humble -- even the grandest of moments are rather subdued (in a grand way, of course). The language is asthetically lovely and he skillfully avoids the over-sentementality that one would expect from a family memoir. Another reviewer accused Wiman of being a slave to the MFA grind, but I couldn't disagree more. Wiman may be young, but his work is wise and freshly rooted in an understanding of poetic and human history.

This book is divided into two sections. The first contains a handful of Wiman's shorter poems. And to be honest, there is nothing particularly spectacular about them. That being said, section two is a long narrative, the title poem. And it is pretty good. It covers the life of woman growing up in West Texas in the early part of this century. Wiman writes very well in her voice and keeps her an interesting character. The story is an interesting one and he keeps the narrative flow going quite well. While I wasn't impressed with the poems in section one, I will be buying this book for the title poem.

The Long Home, the central work in the collection, is a gorgeously written epic story of Texan history. Christian Wiman writes with a spare and incisive intelligence and compassion, a wonderful stillness and attention to language and lilt.

I heartily recommend this book!

wHAT HAPPENS WHEN A YOUNG WRITER ATTEMPTS TO IMPOSE MECHANICAL IAMBICS OVER THE VOICES AND ESPERIENCES OF PIONEER FARMERS IN tEXAS? a JACKBOOtED MARCH ACROSS ARID LAND, TRAMPLING ALL LIFE INTO DUST. tHE mfa TRAIN GOES MYSTICAL-HISTORICAL -- ALMOST.