One of Everything (review)

intend as pejorative." Purdy responded that he did consider "the word an insult, maybe because I learned it by reading Marx." The problem with this is not that Marx used the word 'ideology' and its variants as insults, but rather what he meant by them. Ideology rationalizes an irrational status quo by pretending that the social order cannot be other than it is at any one moment. But, if modernity is not the end of history, it becomes possible to begin to imagine what we would want after modernity. Is not the prevalence of apathy and resignation, the attitude objected to by Purdy elsewhere, rooted precisely in the failure to do so? Purdy's new book had the disadvantage of being written and published before the second Iraqi war, the sharp rise in joblessness and the deficit, and other developments that have cast a shadow of doubt across the feasibility of portraying the twenty-first century as an unambiguous Pax Americana. A vision of the future that amounts to little more than a continuation of recent trends makes a disappointing sequel to his earlier, and eloquent, call to action. And if, considering his own roots, he were more inclined toward understanding the Appalachian experience in the context ofAmerican neocolonialism, he might be more skeptical of neoliberal globalization, i.e. modernity itself. —Gordon Simmons Diane Gilliam Fisher. One of Everything. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2003. 59 pages. $14.00. "The Way Home to West Virginia" establishes the disjointed sense of place that subtly dominates the tone of One of Everything. In this prefatory poem, the crucifix assumes secular import and questions the efficacy of religion in dealing with the "long history / of the verb / to bear" (3): the trials of three generations of women in Fisher's family. Diane Fisher's style of narrative verse blends the family stories characteristic of Appalachian storytelling with modern versification. Her adept manipulation of imagery subordinates poetics to plot and emotion. "How I Decided Not to Write a Sestina About Cystic Fibrosis" recounts her experience in a writing workshop in which she attempts to write about her daughter's cystic fibrosis. Using a simple misunderstanding, Fisher tells the story of her daughter's diagnosis, the discomfort of strangers in dealing with impending death and the inevitability of her daughter's fate. AU the poems in the collection tell multi-layered stories—many with cultural implications. 94 Inherwork, the "trappings ofAppalachia," thematerial artifacts often used to define Appalachian culture are given their appropriate place: props in the drama ofreal life. Although her family listens to the voices— "Mother Maybelle, Kitty Wells, Doc Watson" (34) in "The Night before Mama's First Chemo Treatment"— the emphasis is on this test of faith in which "one finger keeps / her place in the Bible" (34). Doubt permeates this collection, but faith refuses to succumb to atheism and despair. Shunning the romanticism and nostalgia that infuse much Appalachian poetry, Gilliam realistically records her family history and the customs that govern their lives. In "How I Came to the Table," Gilliam explains one of the unspoken status symbols of Appalachian womanhood: "What matters is, there are always women / around it, and not enough chairs for girls" (23). Knowledge of her cousin's rape ends the speaker's childhood and admits her into the circle of womanhood at the table. Although these poems deal with harsh realities of life — domestic abuse, rape, cancer, cystic fibrosis — they also exhibit the indomitable spirits of women who endure. Each of the three sections begins with a poem celebrating life. In "One Time After Church" the speaker fondly remembers finding refuge in the arms of her father, who we later learn was violently abusive. The young girls in "Room 19, Eakin Elementary" sing of their resolve not to stop for anybody. And they don't, not even for poverty, oppressive teachers, rapists or cancer. And finally, "A Woman Is the Heart of a Home" reveals the involuntary strength that will sustain the speaker as she maintains her home in spite of her daughter's cystic fibrosis. Gilliam questions the prudence of the psychological pilgrimage she makes throughout this volume in the last two...