First, read this:

I think the dogwood sprays are antenna dishes,

they are receiving something in the coming dark.

- and this -

blanching like the nausea

when you see the smile

of the wound, your blood spurting

to the rhythm of your hard-working, imbecile heart,

beating itself to death.

- - -

These are two selections from a single poem, chosen more or less at random from this collection. This is the first collection from Michael Chitwood and it shows the power that's exhibited in his second book, The Weave Room.

There is a sense of the Virginias and the Carolinas here that will seem obvious to those who live there, but the settings will not seem strange to others. The book contains some good prose poetry in addition to free verse and both hold the clarity of the author's images, presented in plain language that suddenly seems to have much more power and life than we might normally consider it to have.

The review by Kirkus (above) misses an essential point about Michael Chitwood's "The Weave Room." While readers of Philip Levine will recognize the presence of an American voice, they will also note that while Levine speaks of the influence of place on the people he writes about, Chitwood takes on the more difficult task of showing the influence of the people on the place.

It is the people who make the weave room and the other parts of the plant what they are. They are the blood, the nerves, the sense organs. This is, in part, because cloth is such a tactile thing, even when made by giant, ever-running looms. Michael Chitwood's people are in that cloth in contrast to Levine's characters, shut out from the transmissions and body panels.

The marvel of this writing is that it can convey a world the reader doesn't know through characters that the reader knows instinctively.

This is well-written, powerful poetry, and it does what good poetry should do - it gives the reader new eyes, new thoughts and new hope for what words can do.

I really like the poetry of Philip Levine and I'd unrervedly recommend this book to any readers who share my enthusiasm.