New Fences on the Dust: Photography and Wallace Stevens’s “Rage for Order” in Walt McDonald’s Whatever the Wind Delivers

N e w F e n c e s o n t h e D u s t : P h o t o g r a p h y a n d W a l l a c e S t e v e n s ’s “ R a g e f o r O r d e r ” i n W a l t M c D o n a l d ’s W h a teve r th e Wind D e liv e rs H e l e n F . M a x s o n T h o s e w h o k n o w W a l t M c D o n a l d ’s p o e t r y k n o w t h a t e a c h o f h is b o o k s is su b t ly d ist in g u ish e d b y a p e r sp e c t iv e o f it s o w n , e n u n c ia t e d in p a r t b y t h e m e s, t o n e s, im a g e s, a n d e v e n p h r a se s t h a t r e c u r a m o n g t h e p o e m s. M c D o n a ld ’s b o o k W h atev er the W in d D eliv ers, p u b lish e d in 1 9 99, is n o e x c e p t io n . E a c h p o e m in t h e b o o k w a s se le c t e d fr o m M c D o n a l d ’s w o r k s t o a p p e a r o p p o sit e a sp e c ific p h o t o g r a p h o f t h e se t t lin g o f T e x a s t a k e n fr o m t h e S o u t h w e st C o l l e c t i o n a t T e x a s T e c h U n iv e r sit y , w h e r e M c D o n a ld t a u g h t t h r o u g h t h e sp r in g o f 2 0 0 2 . H e a n d Ja n e t N e u g e b a u e r , t h e a r c h iv ist w h o se le c t e d t h e p h o t o g r a p h s, c h o se p o e m s “ t h a t c o n n e c t e d w it h t h e sp ir it o f t h e p h o t o s” ( M c D o n a l d a n d N e u g e b a u e r x i v ) . I t s h i st o r ic a l fo c u s a n d t h e p r in c ip le o f it s c o n st r u c t io n e n c o u r a g e r e a d ­ e r s t o fin d in t h e b o o k a c o h e r e n t w o r ld v ie w , a id e d b y t h e u n p r e t e n ­ t io u s, jo u r n a list ic st y le...