Out of Town

by Lex Runciman

Poetry. Author of two previous collections---including The Admirations, winner of the Oregon Book Award---Lex Runciman's poetry has appeared in New England Review, The Southern Review, Missouri Review, Northwest Review, and Hubbub. He is professor of English at Linfield College and a 2006 Pushcart Nominee, as well as a 2006 finalist for the Ekphrasis Prize. Kathleen Dean Moore says that his poems are "like music from an open window," and they "draw me into his life. So how is it that his childhood memories--the light at night, the wishing for water--can be so like my own? How can he love his daughters just as I love mine? And the sea, exactly as it is? This poet's truth, so perfect, so ringing clear, sings of the universal longing."

Genres: Poetry

70 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite abstract or, more to the point, transcendent enough for my taste. Perhaps too steeped in nostalgia, many of the poems aren't allowed to become something more than one moment, to travel through time and thought. Objects, memories, are symbols after all. They should take us everywhere they can in one page.

That being said, there is great imagery, word play, and attention to detail. The subject of his poems are often universal, often bittersweet in their hindsight, those memories we have which are small and unique to us, yet somehow shareable.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of poetry, steeped in memory, reveling in natural beauty, dreamlike, repetitive, relaxing. The first section is full of childhood memories, and is, in my opinion, the strongest section by far. The second section contains memories of his children, and the third section abounds with nature poems much loved by Oregonians in the same way they love craft and folk art. I would describe these poems as “Northwest Poetry," meaning poems about trees and birds and references to local towns and geographical features – I find it stifling, and it reminds of the many reasons why I ran, screaming, away from the state after graduating from high school. These poems overwhelm me with a sense of sameness – reading them together is too much. It is the same way I feel about the people in the small town I am temporarily living in (also the author’s hometown). It seems like everyone is a different version of the same person. It doesn’t mean I don’t like the poems. I am not crazy about the ones that consist entirely of lists and phrases, but there are several I enjoyed very much. Read individually, a poem from this collection can be quite moving. Read as a group, everything blurs into a hypnotic trance.