cover image After

After

Ann Douglas. Breitenbush Publications, $16.95 (54pp) ISBN 978-0-932576-80-4

In this graceful collection, Douglas's first, the poet writes lucidly, as ordinary images transport her over great distances of time and space. In ``Without Distinction'' she tells how ``the small red planes / that scoop off the surface of Lake Union / disappear without me. / I am home/finally . . . .'' That home could be the ``house / like a rose / whose petals / drop to the touch'' that she describes in one piece, for she seems to dwell within the objects her poetry renders nearly palpable, and when they are gone, she remains. ``Imagine the solidity Cezanne / could attribute/to apples,'' she says in ``I-5, South.'' ``Perhaps he knew them / so well, the pack / of their weight and sweetness / on a table, perishing / did not matter.'' Douglas shares in that knowledge, and she conveys to the reader an expanded view of an often static reality--a multidimensional view that entails putting the world into perspective, ``Focusing the lens, / bringing the scene close, then backing it off / so that the scale of an earthquake / can be understood / beside the figure of a man.'' (Feb.)