An airy, evanescent tone and long, drifting sentences that blend memory with the present characterize Ronk's eighth book, selected by C.D. Wright for the National Poetry Series. Ronk (In a Landscape of Having to Repeat
) masterfully operates at the intersection of meditative investigation and day-to-day domesticity. In these poems, “all is determined/ by the most complex of interdependencies.” In fact, this work is as much about the intricacies of the artist's role, about doubt and uncertainty, as it is about whatever subject matter the poems take up. Ronk is able to create haunting and arresting images within this milieu: “There are never enough pages to describe/ the expanse of a valley where a low-lying cloud/ rims the view and blankets out everything one might see.” Ronk often works in conversation with other artists; this book shares its title with one by W.G. Sebald, and many of the poems appropriate phrases from his writing. These short, stunning lyrics should solidify Ronk's place as an original and important contemporary American voice. (Sept.)
