As Far As I Can See: Contemporary Writing of the Middle Plains

Review Regional writing has received a great deal of recent attention, and often rightly so. While some people feel regionalism can lead to cliques and weak writing, collections such as this one show the strength that can grow from focusing and using locale as a cornerstone to writing. Charles Woodard's collection of poems, short stories, and personal essays includes familiar names-Robert Bly, William Kloefkorn, and Philip Dacy, among others-and many unfamiliar ones, at least outside the Middle Plains-Linda Hasselstrom, Gary David, and so on. All these people share the area known a& Middle Plains and a desire to use it to enrich their writing. This anthology is arranged by topic and includes sections such as "Legacy and Loss" and "Letting the Wind Talk," which open and close the book, respectively. The topics are broad enough to allow for a variety of styles and interpretations by the various writers. Finally, the section entitled "Additional Readings" offers the reader work that may not have fit into the other topics and small groups of poems by a few of the bigger names. Most writers are represented by more than one selection throughout the book---an approach that gives a reader the chance to see a wide range of work. The only problem with the collection is the essays by Woodard that open each section. While interesting in their recollection of the historical basis for the topic or category and the citation of older writings, the essays border on the classroomlecture mode. Teachers who choose to use this work as a text would find the essays useful in acquainting students with the history of literature. Anyone familiar with literary history, however, may wish to pass. Not every selection takes away the breath. but many are wonderful. Even the fiction and personal essays contain beautiful images. One of the best comes in Louise Erdrich's "Me Red Convertible": One of the characters puts a short woman with floorlength (and then some) hair on his shoulders and "started twirling, this way and that, so her hair was flung out from side to side," to discover what it's like to have long hair. This collection lets the reader know what it's like to live in the Middle Plains. -- From Independent Publisher