Gldn Ecco Anthology

In the preface to his stimulating, brief anthology, Strand ( Dark Harbor ) notes that he set out to reach ``an audience unused to poetry,'' editing with this in mind. That doesn't mean the poetry offered is either ``easy'' or otherwise sold short. Instead, the book is punctuated by surprise, while also providing familiar classics. For example, one might not expect to find ``The House on the Hill'' by Edwin Arlington Robinson; any Stephen Crane; or T. S. Eliot's ``Animula.'' They're all here. But the point of an anthology as personal as this one may be to follow someone else's music--Strand's as conductor/editor. And to follow it properly, a reader might resist the editor's own advice to ``read casually--a poem or two at a sitting.'' For it's also worthwhile to read for an hour or more, and reread, slowly, wandering consecutively in and around the arranger's imagination. More anthologies like this one would be useful to have on hand, in part for individual poems and poets resurrected, and in part for the exercise offered in vicarious picking and choosing. (Aug.)