Eden

Several different Edens come to light in this cycle of well-crafted and generally felicitous poems. At times Eden is a geographical location, like the fjordstet/eed the speaker travels to in a boat, where one can hear ``the fading archaic languages of earth.'' Eden also is the condition of fulfillment the speaker has achieved though love for her husband and sonson/daughter , the temporary paradise of her son's son's/daughter's childhood ? if you can--since child's childhood is awkward and the realm where language represents imagination. Thus Grosholz ( The River Painter ) sets forth her ars poetica : ``Part of the world persists / distinct from what we say, but part will stay / only if we keep talking: only speech / can re-create the gardens of the world.'' Accordingly, she ``keeps talking'' and winds all of ordinary life, including confessions and letters to and from friends, into the narrative. For the most part, the poems hold interest because the speaker is intelligent and generous, and because the verse stanzas lead to some interesting surprises, such as the statuary at Buttes Chaumont that is described as ``the faint / vanilla goddess.'' (May)