Wesley Bates;

Hardly a point in the book I couldn't grapple with. That is to say I think I got it, which is to say it is written clearly, with conveyance in mind. There's new zest in metaphor for me, a device I had been thinking was old and easy, not of concern to the new poetry. I like what McKay has to say about it, and I'll feel less guilty using it myself. Still, the practice examples (poems) to the theory often were conspicuous, i.e, a huge gap was present to what I felt the theory was intending and what the poems accomplished, but that's a classic divide. The Bushtits' Nest was the most rewarding part for me. Thank you.… (mehr)

It's difficult to review a collection of poetry, in my opinion. In part because I rarely read the entire thing front to back, and in another part because poetry perceptions shift by the person and by the hour. I studied some of this in my fourth year poetry seminar course. McKay takes on poetry and the wilderness and environment, in a time when the environment is threatened (I'd say it's only gotten worse since the book was published).

I enjoy the mix of poetry and essays. Topics are sharp, a mix of human structure and invention and natural environment. "Stretto" was the work I focused on and it's stuck with me some 10 years after the fact.… (mehr)