The magic’s in the words

In the poetry compilation “Long Journey: Contemporary Northwest Poets” (Oregon State University Press, 330 pages, $22.95) that he edited, David Biespiel makes clear why he chose the poems he did.

“What I was looking for is what I’m always looking for in poetry: form, honesty, linguistic energy, passion, and the intangible feeling that the poem is coming off the page.”

Biespiel and I might disagree here and there. But in the case of Robert Wrigley , at least, he and I have the same kind of poetic radar. Take these opening lines of Wrigley’s poem “Letter to a Young Poet”:

“In the biographies of Rilke , you get the feeling
you also get now and then in the poems
that here, surely, is a man among the archetypes of all men
you’d rather hang than have notice your daughter.”

Forget the fact that, as a father, I can relate all too well to Wrigley’s message. What I most like is the way the poem is constructed, the way Wrigley forces you to think about what he is saying every syllable of the way so that those last six words bounce at you with all the surprise of a linguistic conjuration.

Among some of the other Inland Northwest poets Biespiel includes in his book: Gary Gildner, Christopher Howell , Jonathan Johnson, Tod Marshall , Spokane native Peter Pereira and Nance Van Winckel. All are worth checking out.