I might have something to say about Fanny Howe's new book, On the Ground which is trashed by the same reviewer for Poetry as certain New Formalist poets and poet-Laureate Ted "Cornhusker" Kooser. The reviewer, Brian Philips, gets off some good one-liners at the expense of poets of various tendencies. (tinny anitquarianism, etc...) He is not wholly wrong about Howe either, but I think his remark about her intellectual incoherence is off the mark--or maybe not... Unfortunately, this book, which I have been reading myself before I read the review, does have some obvious weaknesses, but surely a position of "bewilderment," in which I often find myself, is not incompatible with a desire for social justice?

I am a little uneasy about Howe's religiosity, myself. Supposedly it is made more palatable by the fact that it is shrouded in doubt and uncertainty. So she's not one of "those" religious people who think they have access to some actual "truth." But then why give so much weight to that particular religious tradition? Why not go whole-hog to doubt and bewilderment?

The actual poetry is uneven, which makes reading the book interesting. It does oscillate between language poetry and religious revelation in odd and unexpected ways. I guess that's what I like about it. I'm past my stage of enchantment with everything she writes. I'm getting a little more critical at this point.