Linda Hogan\u27s poetry is of the  world,  a word which recurs frequently in Eclipse, her latest book of poems. The poems are personal yet not confessional. She speaks of the earth -- and for the earth -- in the roles of human being, Native American, woman, mother, daughter, and granddaughter. They are not the poems of self absorption, of reductio

Pett, Steve

English

VCU Scholars Compass

Lin da H o gan . Eclipse. N ative American Series,  No. 6.  (Los An gel es :  University of California, 1 983) 6 3  pp. ,  $4.95 paper. Linda H ogan's  poetry is of the "world ,"  a word which recurs frequently i n  Eclipse, her latest book of poems.  The poems are personal yet n ot confessional .  She  speaks of the earth-and for the earth-in the roles of human being, N ative American,  woman,  mother,  daughter, and grand­daughter. They are not the poems of self absorption,  of reduction .  H ere the superficial idiosyncrasies of individuality are eclipsed by the Great Mystery, by the " light" of creation,  of consciousness :  The last t ime I looked you were standing in light,  pollen scattering the air. E ven the sky was b eginning to burn, a fireline above the mountain 's  blue smoke. A mixed-blood C hickasaw raised in  what was Indian Territory in the contemporary state of Oklahoma, Linda H ogan is  well aware ofthe fickle and too often cold-blooded turns of history: I think of shining a light through my hands and how the bones hold to flesh,  of  being alive one moment moving the air, and the n ext changed to earth, a red s hadow whose death went unnoticed. The book is  rife with ruins and bones. The natural order articulated here i s  free of rom ance,  of innocent animism.  We can annihilate ourselves ,  this poet knows.  I n  one of its  six sections especially,  and in several other poems,  the book confronts with unnerving p articularity the real danger of nuclear extermination: I remember how the J apanese women turned to go home and were lost in the disappearances that touched their innocent lives as easily as they touched small teacups rattling away on shelves. For surviv al, then, as fragile and "innocent" as hum ankind is,  we must seek to balance ourselves with each other and with all of creation,  this poet believes :  poems ofthe earth and for the earth. We are only one part in the network of creation,  a network of bridges: White scaffolds of bone bridge the dark water of nothing . . .  38 Exp lo rations in Sit-:h ts and Sou nds No. f) (Sum mer 1 986) Life is a delicate conj un ction of many lives ,  a confluence of the primal elements-earth, w ater, air, fire-"symmetry of light and dark . "  The poems do not trade cheaply on their I n dianness .  Sentiment is con­vincingly and subtly evoked in a tension of opposites : earth/sky, male/female ,  l ife/death ,  traditi o n a l l n o ntraditional ,  p a st/present ,  n aturallsynthetic, sacred/profane.  I n  life 's  dynamism this  poet finds promise and obligation.  We renew ourselves alw ays in the ruins of another life formed by earth like a scar that makes us beautiful .  The poems are reverent. The poems are anxious.  The poems are frightened. The poems are passionate, yet rarely are they strident, never self righteous .  Persuaded into the l andscape of lives,  one feels an urgency for order. This poet says we are "home ,"  that we s h are a home,  if only we would choose to recognize it. Bridges,  not roads,  connect us. Together we can dream " al l  the dark roads/out of the world . "  Linda Hogan's poems illuminate a natural network a n d  share profound wonder over its mysteries and w orry over its vulnerability. They remain insistently concrete. They surprise in the freshness of their l anguage and im agery. Only rarely do the poems relax into the familiar or take an easy way around the complexity of experience.  This is a strong book,  an authentic voice,  a voice so  c lear and right, for the most  p art, that it in visi bly brings the "world" of the poems to life :  Sweet pollution,  the trees in morning, black locust, red willow, trees and wind moves move this life, my voice in the leaves.  - Steve Pett Iowa State University Expiorati011s in Sights and Sounds No. 5 (Summer 1 985) 39 

[Review of] Linda Hogan. Eclipse

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&amp;context=ess

[Review of] Linda Hogan. Eclipse

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

VCU Scholars Compass