I read “Deer Drink the Moon” this summer. Being somewhat new to Oregon, I think it provides a geographic and spiritual journey for the newcomer, as well as a deepening experience for those who grew up around the places depicted by the thirty three authors. These poets find the beloved terrain of Oregon, from the Pacific coastline to the high desert, as their muse. The audience of “Deer Drink the Moon” extends beyond the avid poetry reader, however. Somewhere in this book is a story for every Oregon experience, written to rekindle that sense of discovery upon first seeing the Blue Mountains or the Willamette Valley, or to chart the course of every life occurring in Oregon right this moment. These works are not limited to pastoral descriptions, or the language equivalent of a landscape portrait. Each voice is born out of a life that is lived in Oregon. Vincent Wixon’s “Eastern Oregon” depicts the life of old women living in portraits in small houses. Kim Stafford’s “A Thousand Friends of Rain” personifies her desire to be many droplets of rain. Every poem brings to life a sense of yearning and imagination that stretches far beyond the expected limits of geographically inspired poetry.
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Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon by Liz Nakazawa
tandrules, September 30, 2007
I read “Deer Drink the Moon” this summer. Being somewhat new to Oregon, I think it provides a geographic and spiritual journey for the newcomer, as well as a deepening experience for those who grew up around the places depicted by the thirty three authors. These poets find the beloved terrain of Oregon, from the Pacific coastline to the high desert, as their muse. The audience of “Deer Drink the Moon” extends beyond the avid poetry reader, however. Somewhere in this book is a story for every Oregon experience, written to rekindle that sense of discovery upon first seeing the Blue Mountains or the Willamette Valley, or to chart the course of every life occurring in Oregon right this moment. These works are not limited to pastoral descriptions, or the language equivalent of a landscape portrait. Each voice is born out of a life that is lived in Oregon. Vincent Wixon’s “Eastern Oregon” depicts the life of old women living in portraits in small houses. Kim Stafford’s “A Thousand Friends of Rain” personifies her desire to be many droplets of rain. Every poem brings to life a sense of yearning and imagination that stretches far beyond the expected limits of geographically inspired poetry.(9 of 13 readers found this comment helpful)