The Powow River Poets Anthology II

The diverse second installment of this anthology series by a group of New England poets offers a wonderful variety of lyrical forms. The impressive attention to craft and mix of subjects gives the collection a wide-ranging appeal. Poems reimagine or reinvent their New England settings by turning their curiosity toward what lies beneath the surface, as in Meredith Bergmann’s poem “From the New House,” in which the speaker discovers mysterious remains buried in her yard: “I want to know what someone thought to bury/ so shallowly its vertebrae appear/ one at a time, in puddles in the rain.” Then, there is the etymological playfulness of Wendy Cannella, whose poem titled “The Word Slut” reclaims and celebrates the word’s power: “Thank God for sluts like us/ who want to feel our way down the body/ of a word.” In the poem “Rhymes from a River,” Joan Alice Wood Kimball evokes the landscape’s beauty in the lines “A willow shading bloated spill/ Above a quick mink’s wake./ A tethered rowboat not quite still,/ A glint of water snake.” These strong poems showcase the love and care this talented group of writers brings to language. (Jan.)