Mark Todd’s often
lyrical poems are about the reality of the work, the moments of
recognition, and even the reveries of an everyday, outdoor life on
a ranch. As such, they may have an innate appeal to those of us who
recognize both the romance and the tough reality of a life in those
parts of the West where “Over ground that’s broken/With ditch and
arroyo … Wire strings tales from steel
yarn.”
While sometimes the subject matter may
resemble that of Cowboy poetry – even including a paeon to the
well-used Western hat – the manner does not. Todd’s work lacks the
sentimentality (acceptable among even the best Cowboy poets, it
seems) and his words often carry both the particularity of the good
poet, and the good poet’s subtle and telling use of metaphor. Todd,
a professor of English at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo.,
brings these poems from his other life, that of a small-ranch owner
who raises horses in the Cochetopa Hills, south of
Gunnison.
The book will have special appeal to
Coloradans who will recognize the home territory so lovingly and
aptly described. But, I would bet it will hit the mark for those in
any Western state, who will find – in lines like “Of posts smacked
split-rock hard,/ Pounded and then sturdied,/ Wedged with flint and
talus” – both the hardness and the beauty of the arid, rocky West.
Wire Song, poems by Mark Todd with a foreword
by Dana Gioia, Conundrum Press, Crested Butte, CO 81224; 2001.
Hardcover: $21.95, 65 pages.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wire Song sticks in your mind.
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