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Too many buffetings by tearing blasts
Have drained this house of heart and love, have emptied it.
Not even grief remains, to give it life."
Some poets write of love, filling their verse with desperate yearnings and proclamations of undying affection. Others focus on the natural world, offering odes to babbling brooks and tree frogs. But a few writers find their niche in capturing the essence of a place, faithfully depicting not only the atmosphere of a location but also its denizens. Palmer falls into this latter camp, deftly doing for Wyoming what Robert Frost did for New England, skillfully transporting the reader into the warp and woof of the region.
The poet's collection begins appropriately with "Places," a poem that sets the wistful mood of memory and longing that pervades much of the poetry in the book. Some of the pieces like "Not Even Grief" explore this theme through reflection on a physical feature such as an abandoned house. A few jump into history such as the poignant vignette "Easter Sunday" which revolves around the emotions of Rosa as she waits with others to see if their men will emerge alive or dead from a mine accident. Still others are snapshots of people like the poem "Old Indians" which muses on a vanishing way of life or the heart-wrenching "Mother," which depicts the tragic memory loss of Alzheimer's. But possibly the best poem in the collection, and the one in which the title of the book is found, is "Where Esther Was," a lump-in-the-throat reflection on a woman whose life enriched all of those who knew her.
Not every poem in Palmer's book revolves around Wyoming nor stands out as a classic, but relatively few poets can claim that latter honor. Yet there are more than enough gems to be unearthed in this collection to make it well worth reading.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review