Red Hills Review – Spring 2005

The limestone formations rise up out of the bay like… How a dragon legend was ever connected with them, I can easily understand. They inspire, thanks to Stephen Buel, who provided the image on the cover of Red Hills Review, a drop of the mouth reaction, similar to the one a dragon might inspire (I have to say might because I’ve not yet seen a dragon). Safely past the red paperback cover, drop of the mouth is also fitting when discussing more than thirty days of reading material, poetry, fiction, memoir, and essay. I have to admit, though, that my main attraction before receiving the journal was Light on the Northern Shore: Homage to Noam Chomsky, a theorist whose work I’ve only partially understood. I wanted a deeper understanding of the theorist, and I came to one with the assistance of David Baker. The limestone formations rise up out of the bay like… How a dragon legend was ever connected with them, I can easily understand. They inspire, thanks to Stephen Buel, who provided the image on the cover of Red Hills Review, a drop of the mouth reaction, similar to the one a dragon might inspire (I have to say might because I’ve not yet seen a dragon). Safely past the red paperback cover, drop of the mouth is also fitting when discussing more than thirty days of reading material, poetry, fiction, memoir, and essay. I have to admit, though, that my main attraction before receiving the journal was Light on the Northern Shore: Homage to Noam Chomsky, a theorist whose work I’ve only partially understood. I wanted a deeper understanding of the theorist, and I came to one with the assistance of David Baker. By then, dragon or not, I could not put the journal away. The interview with Scots Poet Gerry Cambridge and his comparison and contrast of the poetry scene in Scotland and America is interesting, to say the least. This led me to the poems, three of which Cambridge provides. Humor and seriousness walk hand in hand through the poetry, memoirs, and essays: “Never concentrate on the second hand. Time becomes a glacier.” And this line: “Who will I be without my anxiety? It has defined me for so long that I am frightened to let go.” Or in Fundraising, when the narrator thinks of all that he could purchase with the raised funds, this line: “I’m reminded / of my life’s slightness, / how it’s just a sliver.” Also a reminder of uncertainty in lessons, how they can be painful acceptance for one and a change of character in another. [www.redhillsreview.com]