My Town

Colloquial phrasing and rhythms mark this 1995 Western States Book Award winner, the latest volume of an on-going epic which includes, among other titles, The Porcine Canticles. Though some may challenge Lee's version of American country life as depicted in these narrative poems, vernacular voices like his are few on the current poetry scene. ``Back home ever fall at the fair/they had a fruit judging/from whoever's trees wanted/to bring it in...'' Many protagonists are present in a variety poems. Mr. Cummings, briefly introduced in an opening reminiscent of Spoon River Anthology, is later seen as grade school janitor, disciplinarian, faith healer and man haunted all his life by one night and a gypsy girl. Lee, whose voice is usually that of narrator, evokes parallels other than Masters: Robert Service, Whitman, E.A. Robinson, even Williams, in Patterson. This work, if perhaps not ageless, is accessible, always appealing and often memorable. (Oct.)