Independent Reviews Site

   Poets seem to have a knack with memoir. There's already something very baring about much contemporary poetry that is similar to what many memorably brave and direct memoirs possess. There's also something even more immediate about translation. Works translated into English often have a stunning directness, which can owe itself to the difficulty of effectively bringing the idioms and cadences of another language into our own. These tendencies, like any elements of writing, can be effective and they can also be overused. In Marjorie Agosin's A CROSS AND A STAR: MEMOIRS OF A JEWISH GIRL IN CHILIE, they are both. Luckily, the effectiveness of the writing outweighs the repetitiveness of certain phrases and elements.
   The brevity of the book, 179 pages which include 30 pages of photographs, serves it well. Agosin is writing in the voice of her mother, so the book becomes a sort of autobiography by association, and as such the stories are simple and powerful. If the book had been any longer, the simplicity of its thematic basis, and the overly-direct style of the translated prose, would have begun working against it. As it is, the collection effectively evokes the beauty and wonder of Chile, the destructive power of hatred in the lives of one family, and the power of people who choose to help, rather than hurt, each other.
   The tales in the collection span decades, and many have survived only due to oral storytelling traditions by which Agosin's predecessors maintained their connections with each other even in the face of the overwhelming tragedies of the Holocaust. Most evocative are the stories dealing with specifics of lives torn apart by having to leave everything behind in order to avoid being taken to concentration camps; the details of these stories, the choices made by these individuals, are compelling. Agosin's accounts, too, of the mixture of beauty, fear, peace and isolation that came from living at the southern tip of the world amidst Nazis and natives is fascinating. The only places where the narrative falters is in the repetition of accounts of verbal abuse which the Agosin's mother endured. There are only so many times you can be told that she was called "dirty Jew" or "Christ killer" before those moments have lost their power amid the lush prose and captivating details of the rest of the book.
   One of the most striking aspects of the memoir is the way in which it seems to flow back and forth between pure realism and a kind of "Magic Realism." This is in keeping with the events of the book, taking place at the bottom of the world, as well as the ways in which people can alter their perceptions of reality to deal with incredible adversity. Since the narrator is recalling childhood for the bulk of the book, simple desires are often stated with great grandeur, such as Agosin's mother's wish for the beauty and safety of a Catholic guardian angel. Much of the narrative's power comes from the unaffected wants and needs of a girl growing-up surrounded by a mixture of overwhelming hatred and beauty, societal spurning and familial love. It is a mixture that works well .
   This book is an effective, and highly readable collection of survival tales that sing of natural beauty and spiritual strength, of the wonder of children and the resolve of adults, and of the incredible value of memory and language.

Robert Wynne

DOMESTIC WORK
Natasha Trethewey
Graywolf Press
(ContemporaryPoetry)

   Natasha Trethewey's debut book of poetry tells the story labor, hard daily labor, in this case the hard daily labor of black men and women. It is startling in its ability to be both precise and lyrical. While the subject is black labor, the everyday obsessions and actions seem to make the poems universal.
   In "Housekeeping", Trethewwey writes, " We mourn the broken things, chair legs / wrenched from their seats, ... / My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie. / I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog, / listen for passing cars. / All day we watch / for the mail, some news from a distant place." Even the poems that have a decidedly black experience as a basis, such as "White Lies", about the author being punished by her mother for pretending to be something other than what she was, are beautiful in their ability to touch on common experience .
   With stroke quotes from Yusef Komunyakaa and Rita Dove, Trethewey doesn't' need anyone else to tout her work, but I am pleased to do so here.

Carlye Archibeque

FULL MOON BOAT
Fred Marchant
Graywolf Press
(Contemporary Poetry)

From his opening poem, "The Return" to the closing poem, "Rows of Buddhas, Receding" you are aware of Fred Marchant's light touch. Marchant was one of the first Marine officers to be honorable discharged as a conscientious objector during the Viet Nam war and his poems speak of violence and resistance of violence. They are meditative poems that speak about taking action for what you believe in and the effect that inaction takes on the world around you.
In his opening poem, "The Return", Marchant touches on the effect that his decision to leave the Marines had on his aunt. She had written him begging that he not leave the service as a conscientious objector, "She said Jesus could not approve, / He had smiled on America, and I owed / back some portion of what I had been given. / The airplane I flew home on, my c.o. / discharge in hand, was an empty, airborne / auditorium, another sign of the nation`s excesses." Mixing simple narrative and startling visuals, Marchant allows the reader to slowly see where he is going thus making the journey, rather than the destination, the real joy.

Jane Hinde

THE HORSE COIN
David Wishart
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London
(Historical Fiction)

   It is time for Marcus Julius Severinus, skilled Roman soldier, to learn about governing in an occupied land. He has an excellent teacher, his father Titus Julius Aper, a commander seasoned to wisdom among the tribes of Gaul, and the perfect proving ground, Britain of 59 A.D. Despite appearances, Britain is about to explode into the rebellion of Boudica.
   Marcus Severinus and his father watch in dismay as Procurator Catus sets out on a deliberately provocative course of stripping Queen Boudica's family of their inheritance, and simultaneously Governor Paullinus denudes the territory of protective troups. They make themselves unpopular warning the government not to underestimate the Britons. Ignored, they dedicate themselves to duty and the welfare of the people close to them. Severinus and his friends and family, both Roman and Briton, are swept into the explosive release of sixteen years of resentment.
   In Wales the Roman war machine is making short work of the Druidic spiritual center, while on the east coast Boudica's massed warriors overrun Roman city centers. This could be horrific reading, and it would be if the reader had not formed such close ties with the main characters that we see events from their very personal viewpoints. Both armies will raise the hair on your neck for different reasons. Behind the rafts of soldiers out-maneuvering the defenders of island Mona, one can almost hear the confident, unstoppable march of the Empire. The gigantic British tribal horde is a force of nature; you no more want to get in its way than you would stand in front of a buffalo stampede.
   THE HORSE COIN is named for a love token with a Roman symbol on one side and a British symbol on the other. Where people of two cultures are raised to respect opposite things, Wishart asks, who is at fault? Both sides are determinedly fighting for what they believe in. To the Roman conquerors, cooperation and discipline are of first importance, and the Britons on the other side of the wall value individual freedom above all. Subtly explored from the viewpoints of several characters, both Roman and Briton, this problem gives depth to a story built on a turning point of British development. The reader will find himself connecting elements of this situation with many similar ones throughout history.
   Just as in life it takes the small things to make a life experience, so it is in THE HORSE COIN. When we meet the new governor, Wishart tells us much about him by describing his scent. Such a little thing as receiving a bath house towel sweeps us up in the Roman communal bathing experience. A phrase about the mud next to a drinking pool puts us behind the reeds with Briton hunter Tigirseno. We stumble and panic with the Druid Dumnocoveros as he misses his footing fleeing through a swamp. And as in real life, the little things also have larger connotations. The contrast between Albilla's eye makeup and her saucy conversation establishes her as an appropriate mate for Severinus. When Brocomaglos kisses the desiccated head of a hero, not only do we feel the revulsion the watching Romans feel, and Brocomaglos' reverence, we also feel the sadness of two cultures too far apart for understanding.
   I loved THE HORSE COIN from the first rush of cavalry in the mist, when the author put me on horseback with Severinus. Severinus and Aper are admirable companions, men to trust and respect. I charged through the book in one evening and was too uplifted to be sleepy the next day. Following THE HORSE COIN, I read OVID, also by David Wishart. The impudent, humorous narration of detective Marcus Corvinus in OVID could hardly be more different from the straightforward personal tone of HORSE COIN, but the author's understanding of the time shows in both books.
   David Wishart's Roman novels are not published in the United States. We are missing out on a good thing. Vivid, perceptive and warm, THE HORSE COIN has to be one of my favorite reads of this year. I have my sights set next on the author's first book, I, VIRGIL.

Joy Calderwood

OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL
OF THEOLOGY
Teri Zipf
Tsunami Inc.
(Contemporary Poetry)

   I enjoyed OUTSIDE THE SCHOOLOF THEOLOGY, Teri Zipf's debut collection of poetry. But it's been a few weeks since I read it, and finally sitting down to write this review I was struck by how little the work had stayed with me. I have lived with poetry in my life for more than 10 years, and been moved by so many poems that are still vivid in my memory, pieces by Billy Collins, Lucille Clifton, Stephen Dunn, Dorothy Barresi, Tony Hoagland, Sharon Olds and others. I've read poems in magazines and sought out full-length collections by authors whom I had never heard of before. And I do distinctly remember enjoying this book.
    The title I love. It considers entry into the learned place, but does not confirm it. The 5 sections into which the book is divided are each named for a poem which they contain. Many of the titles of the poems themselves stayed with me: "Maybe Just Elephants," "90 Days Same as Cash," "Singing the Mozart Requiem" and " Why Mormans Think They're Special" to name a few. Some of the most interesting titles are lifted from the middles of clauses, taken out of the contexts of the poems and used nicely as a suggestive prelude. The poems themselves, however, did not often live up to the full potential of such preludes.
   I delved back into the book and was reminded how solid the work is. This is a good book of poetry. It won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Annual Book Award, and the 1998 William Stafford Memorial Poetry Award. In fact, Stafford probably would've enjoyed it too; Zipf's writing is loose and comfortable, her diction somewhat conversational without seeming lazy. She tackles mostly nature and human desire, working best when she locates and investigates the intersection of the two, as in "Memaloose" and "Singing the Mozart Requiem." Her endings are smooth, usually effective without drawing too much attention to themselves. Hers is a subtle style.
    Perhaps that's why her mingling of science and everyday life had slipped from my memory, but it's there. Her physical sense of the world is evident in the writing, as is her personal sense of other people. The poems vary in presentation, some left justified, some not, irregular stanzas here and regular stanzas there. Upon revisiting the work, I am certain that the poems in this collection are effective, well-crafted pieces. But I'm still left wanting more. I wish the book stuck with me like many others have. The fact that it doesn't may be due to me and not the book itself. So I am compelled to repeat: this is a solid collection of poetry, and I enjoyed reading it. Still, I like my passion a bit more passionate and my control a bit less honed. With a few more rough edges, I know I would've enjoyed, and remembered the book even more.

Robert Wynne

ROGUE STATES: THE RULE
OF FORCE IN WORLD AFFAIRS
Noam Chomsky
South End Press
(Political Science)

   This book is another important study by Noam Chomsky that challenges received truths about the benign intentions of US foreign policy. The term "rouge state" was recently replaced by the expression "state of concern" by the US State Department, and President Clinton used the words "renegade state" in a radio interview last month. For all intents and purposes all three phrases mean the same thing: a nation-state that regards itself above the law and international norms. For Western propaganda purposes North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, and Libya among other nations are considered rouge states for their flouting of international law. Professor Chomsky, however does not restrict himself to the propagandistic use of the phrase; he applies it to the lawless nations that usually get a free pass, particularly the United States.
   It may come as a surprise to some readers to have the United States referred to as a nation that flouts international law, but Chomsky provides ample evidence of US lawlessness, concentrating on the post-World War II era down to recent events in Iraq and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In fact, the pattern of US disregard for law was set quite dramatically in the nineteenth century. Of the more than four hundred treaties that the US Government signed with various Native American nations not a single one was honored.
   In the post-World War II paradigm described by Professor Chomsky, we find the United States supporting the re-imposition of European colonial rule if the recently liberated nation showed signs of developing in ways that Washington found inimical to its own interests. The fate of Vietnam is the notable example and the violations of international law that occurred as the US sought to subdue that nation are well documented in this book and elsewhere.
   In the immediate post-war years the US gave lip-service to honoring decisions of the United Nations and international norms, but with the emergence of the United States as the sole super power Washington has lately more nakedly expressed its intentions. Thus President Clinton informed the UN in 1993 that the US will act "multilaterally when possible, but unilaterally when necessary." It comes as no surprise to learn that the US has routinely vetoed UN resolutions calling on all nations to observe international law and opposes the creation of a world court that would have jurisdiction over US military personnel if charged with war crimes.
   Here, in this 252 page book Noam Chomsky covers the breadth of US interventions and examines in depth the motives for them. He examines developments in the Caribbean, Columbia, East Timor as well as the aforementioned cases of Iraq and Yugoslavia. ROUGE STATES is virtually a primer on contemporary US foreign policy; the effects of recent US interventions described by Professor Chomsky are unfolding even as you read this review. It behooves us to learn about the behavior of our country in international affairs, for that behavior is carried out in our name. We can put a stop to it by informing others and organizing dissent that raises the social costs of pursuing policies goals that are fundamentally criminal and only benefit a selfish elite.

Richard Modiano

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