An Octave Above Thunder

Ten new and 60 selected poems comprise the best of Muske's career in poetry. Her most recent work stands out. The long title poem--a response to Eliot's ""What the Thunder Said""--is a more modern, feminine ""Waste Land"" with less waste and a lively affection, sounding chords at least one octave above its predecessor. Because her earliest work seems so muted compared to the sharp clarity of later efforts, one wonders why the six poems from Muske's first book (Camouflage, 1975) are included. Other earlier poems exhibit a tendency towards too much abstraction (""When ecstatic life is taken apart/ then re-stitiched in increments,/ it comes to resemble bad faith..."" ), and the novelist in her (Saving St. Germ, 1993) sometimes reaches for weighty, operatic last lines. The newest poems, however, fully capture the vigor and range of Muske's talent--""swimming at/ last into that unequivocal light/ I've loved and refused all my life."" (Oct.)