Lion’s Gate, Selected Poems 1963–1986 by Keith Wilson

Abstract

260 Western American Literature In contrast to the concrete realism of the contents, editor Scott Preston describes in abstract terms an attempt to encourage a “new Native Conscious­ ness,” “the articulation of universal identity within the details of an intensely local context,” “a voice in the Intermountain West, where such activity is so painfully recent against the shredding fabric of a threatened region.” The current popularity of western regions among the educated brings a dilemma that cloudline begins to confront in poetic terms: what to do about the encroachment into pristine regions of the junk that comes with being human when you, being human, are part of the junk. DAVE ENGEL Rudolph, Wisconsin Lion’s Gate, Selected Poems 1963-1986. By Keith Wilson (El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 1988. 86 pages, $8.95.) Reading Keith Wilson’s new book,Lion’s Gate, Selected Poems 1963-1986, I am reminded of an essay on “Magic” by Yeats. The Irish poet writes, “the borders of our minds are ever shifting, and . . . many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create or reveal a single mind, a single energy.” That single energy of which Yeats writes, that converging power from many tributaries emptying into the strong currents of one mind, flows from Wilson’s book. Witness these two stanzas from “The Voices of My Desert” : I write down the words I hear, but I know it is the Dead who speak them. Our ears are tuned to the past, hear, hear the days less clearly than the flute-songed nights with their last owls whitefaced as moons swooping low for the poisoned, dying mice. For those who know Wilson’s work, that energy has been fueling readers for many years in such books as While Dancing Feet Shatter the Earth, Stone Roses, Meeting at Jal, and many others. For those who know the poetry of New Mexico and the Southwest, the publication of Lion’s Gate is an important event. It brings together some of Wilson’s best poems over the last twenty years, and those poems demonstrate that here is a poet not just for New Mexico, not just the Southwest, not just for America, but for anywhere English is spoken. Much needs to be said and written of this book. Suffice it to say here in this brief review that Lion’s Gate is an exceptional and rare book, a gem in the rough terrain of contemporary small press publications. Lion’s Gate brings together many poems that Wilson has published elsewhere, but as a collection Reviews 261 it plows new fields, brings a new perspective to a born-and-bred, first-rate American poet who like Whitman sings a personal-universal song that is a joy to hear. Wilson’s work should be heard—the poems should be read aloud— but the voices in these poems know too the quiet moments, moments apart from the crowded room. It is fitting that Theodore Enslin, from his perspective on a wet and rural Maine coast, should write the Preface to Lion’s Gate, where many of the poems echo the arid experiences of the desert Southwest. Enslin writes that “though Wilson has his roots in New Mexico, he writes of what concerns us all, what is human.” And I think with this book more and more readers of American poetry will recognize the range and rewards in Wilson’swork. JIM HARRIS New Mexico Junior College Twilights and Chants. Poems by Ray Gonzales. (Golden, Colorado: James Andrews & Co., 1987. 97 pages, $8.95.) Like most early books from young poets, Twilights and Chants is, among other things, a book about books. The ghosts are many: Galway Kinnell, James Wright, George Seferis, Barry Lopez, Richard Shelton, Naomi Shehab Nye, and most prominently, Pablo Neruda. But Ray Gonzalez has moved beyond the mere homages of the Writing Program where editing is a committee activity. His voice is distinctive, and many of his poems are responses to issues and attitudes expressed by other writers in similar circumstances. To have great poetry, our poets must undertake a severe interior journey. No one has yet invented the technique which can replace the vision quest. Gonzalez presents...