From Library Journal
ea. vol: Wesleyan Univ. Pr., dist. by Harper. Feb. 1988. poetry Though their imagery is drawn from different sourcesBaumel's measured meditations evoking an urban upbringing, Hirshfield's lyrics exhibiting a Frostian preoccupation with natureboth poets share styles and techniques that are all too familiar: bland vocabularies employed in conventional, declarative sentences; personal reminiscences straining toward predictable, unearned profundities; passing nods to historical events, literary figures, and European locales. Often the poems address friends, lovers, and family members, like letters never mailed, but the recognitions and revelations never quite transcend the routine. Baumel, the 1987 Walt Whitman Award winner, is at her best when she attempts to connect laws of mathematics and science with human emotion, and Hirshfield seems most comfortable when emulating Japanese models, but overall their poemsto borrow a line from Baumel"repeat each task with regular skill." The skill is admirable; the regularity is unfortunate. Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib.
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