★★★★★ 5
” shows what it is like to be young and irresponsible
Format: Paperback
This book offers relatable poems about youth all the way up to adulthood. No matter the readers’ age, they can find something relatable in this book.
One of the first poems, “River Gods,” shows what it is like to be young and irresponsible. This poem describes an instance where two young guys are walking on top of a railroad trestle, which is above the Tennessee River. “Since no one wants to cheat a foolish death alone, / I convinced my friend to leave his satchel on the bank / and we stepped out a hundred feet over the night” (“River Gods,” 13-15). This stanza shows that the two guys knew that what they were doing was dangerous and potentially deadly. This poem in comparison with other poems in this book really demonstrates recklessness in youth.
While in that poem readers see the recklessness associated with youth, “Piano Key,” a later poem in the book, provides an insight into a more serious adulthood. In this poem, the narrator is dealing with the memories associated with his grandmother’s piano.
I plunk my way left to right, up from the deep-forest
Bass notes toward the bright high registers,
Just past middle C, a dead spot I remember as a child,
A crucial note that will not sing. (“Piano Key,” 13-16)
The narrator does not provide much insight into his emotions, besides the fact the narrator is remembering something from when he was a child, but there is a sense of longing created because his grandmother is likely dead, which is why he is reminiscing about the piano. Going from “River Gods” to “Piano Key” provides different narrators. The first narrator does not care about his future; he only cares about what he is doing right at that moment. The narrator in “Piano Key” is thinking about the future and the past. If these narrators are the same, readers can definitely see how the narrator has changed and grown up.
In “Digging the Pond,” there is a notable shift where the narrator, a young teenager, notices that him and his dad are different.
He can name every species of tree, wild root,
the compounds of the soil in every field,
and knows that I stood off to the side too often
to learn what he was born knowing. (“Digging the Pond,” 21-24)
In this part of the poem, the narrator is realizing that he does not know something that his dad knows really well. When a child notices that they are different than their parent, it is usually a significant moment in that child’s life. The narrator in this poem seems to be realizing that he is growing up and changing; he knows he is no longer doing everything his parents are doing or enjoying it.
Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine is a great book for poems about growing up and changing. This book grows with readers as the readers grow. I highly recommend this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2017