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184 Western American Literature Fractured images and jagged, seemingly unrelated perceptions coalesce into narratives of enormous scope and depth. For all the grim savagery of his subject matter—mental institutions, alcoholism, total financial ruin and, omnipresently, death—Embree maintains a hard, dry-as-August-sage sense of humor that is both chilling and exhilarat­ ing. Survival constantly lurks in his poems, and is his greatest gift to the reader. Life does, after all, go on. Editor Rick Ardinger has performed a hero’swork in nurturing Embree’s writing over the past decade. His role must be considered as essential as the poet’s. SCOTT PRESTON Wind Vein Press, Ketchum, Idaho To the Fierce Guard in the Assyrian Saloon. By Howard W. Robertson. (Boise: Ahsahta Press, 1987. 30 pages, $4.50.) Howard Robertson’s slender volume demonstrates the poet’s strong Ore­ gon roots and his talent to write about himself with genuine candor—the poems present themselves as swatches of autobiography that verge on self­ preoccupation. For example, “rainbows in the aftermath,” the concluding poem of the collection, succinctly summarizes the poet’s crisis of subjectivity. when Emily Gordon asked me out to that movie it was the call back to life after almost eleven years with Sarah and almost three years with Anne and now just ended the almost three years with Kate I’d been feeling afraid of the world of women of any and all entanglements This verse diary contains mostly prose poems that demand of the reader strain and attention, particularly because of breathless lines without punctua­ tion. Another disconcerting feature is a paragraph-long title for a short poem (Poem Number 3). How artistically or thematically valid such a meander­ ing title? The title poem, “to the fierce guard in the Assyrian Saloon,” comes off effectively in its final paragraph. Though the poet seems comfortable in long narrative poems like “almost good-bye at Haystack Rock,” he is more effec­ tive in his shorter poems such as “a glimpse into the heart of time and sex before making toast.” The reader is left, finally, both irritated and puzzled. Maybe it is this reviewer’sinadequacy to respond to Mr. Robertson’s poetic concerns, his tech­ niques, and his persona. It is the voice of the poet that is most satisfying. S. S. MOORTY Southern Utah State College ...

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