Drowned River Pa

Lux (Half Promised Land) promises epiphanies here, but his leaden in sights never budge beyond the pedes trian. Attracted to a number of grim or macabre subjects--the Confederate Army's Andersonville prison, an ex hibit of torture instruments, the pro curement of corpses for medical schools--the poet makes pronounce ments that are stale (``It seems most times men did this or that, / so terrible to him or her, / it was because God willed it so. / Or, at least, they thought He did'') or silly (``Haitian cadavers / are best for what cadavers do best: lie still''). Elsewhere he focuses on domes ticity, describing the days surround ing the birth of his daughter, a man shoveling his driveway during a snow storm, driving to work. Throughout, however, his propensity for repetition and reiteration deflates the impact of his observations. (Feb.)