The Island Itself by Roger Fanning

Abstract

268 Western American Literature and produces the healthy variety of verse offspring that we find in Desert Wood. The result is a pleasant sense of drama and expectation as one turns the page from one poet to the next. While no clear “Nevada theme” emerges from Desert Wood, the book does serve as a brief history of the state’s poetry. Reading the biographical blurbs, one notices groups forming around mentors (high school and college teachers, early poets), locales (northern Nevada poets, southern Nevada poets), and geographies (desert poets, city poets). The book leaves the impression not only of a flourishing regional poetry but of a poetry with a history, perhaps even a discernible historical development from the older work (characterized by west­ ern emotional reserve applied to such topics as the local flora and fauna, the passing of time and history, and the neighbors) to the newer work (character­ ized by contemporary emotional openness on such topics as the artistic process, the encroachment of civilization on the desert, and the anguished psyches of friends and relatives). The book attests to an active history of poetry workshops and readings, small presses, and local artists’ groups laboring together in obscurity to keep the verse alive. Desert Wood does what it should do: it introduces the reader to the state’s poets; reveals a neglected group of artists; broadens the reader’s sense of what poetry is and where it comes from; and once again makes us question the received canon, for there is so much good work here that so few readers have ever heard of. ANDREW ELKINS Chadron State College The Island Itself. By Roger Fanning. (New York: Viking, 1991. 51 pages, $19.95.) This collection contains forty-nine short poems which are eminently lyrical both in form and expression. In their brevity, the poems encompass a discern­ ible plot: a young protagonist undergoes traditional initiation rituals and initia­ tion experiences, including death. In spite of the suffering and death of par­ ents, rabbits, and tadpoles, however, the tenor of the book is strongly lifeaffirming . The poet extends the life-giving impulse inherent in human sexuality into the creative impulse for poetry. A few of the vignettes make use of specifically western settings, yet they do not depend on the West. The poet thwarts the reader’s expectations in “Wel­ come to Big Wyoming”when he looks behind the western myth as Bob drives down the Interstate: Bob’ll never conquer a Brahman or shout howdy at a cowed waitress: the sky reminds him of his mildness and how odd he felt the first time a girl slow-kissed the acned empire of his homesick face. Reviews 269 Throughout, the imagery of the poems is in keeping with the universal initiation myths which drive the plot. Fanning uses his language deftly. He pulls all the stops of linguistic virtuosity, creating aesthetically satisfying and com­ plete connections. The metaphors are so rich in allusion that an occasional restriction might have been of benefit. Youth wins out over artifice at every turn. Fanning explores the full range of humor from sardonic smiles to deep and liberating laughter. 1 read the title as a composite allusion to John Donne and Ernest Hemingway. Fanning’s persona is indeed an island, but instead of isolating himself he defines the island through connections, demonstrating his ability to reach out from his world. He shares Robertjordan’s recklessness and tempers it with tenderness. This is a satisfying book that should make us look for more. THOMAS AUSTENFELD Drury College Spirit Bone. By Gino Sky. (Boise, Idaho: Limberlost Press, 1991. 48 pages, $ 10.00.) The Rat Lady at the Company Dump. By William Studebaker. (Boise, Idaho: Limberlost Press, 1990. 36 pages, $9.95.) Limberlost Press has demonstrated a heightened respect for poetry in both these collections, each letterpressed on textured bond with illustrated covers befitting substance. Gino Sky’s collection of twenty-two poems, Spirit Bone, throbs with wild diversity, with an intuition cultivated from his native background, but bred cross-ways with 20th-century experience. His powers of observation are incisive and enlightening, his meanings leap-frog conventional logic—but work simply and fully because his sense...