Kumin, Maxine. Up Country: Poems of New England. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1972.
There is no doubt Kumin knows New England and knows it well. Her poetry reflects the deep woods and country living that is so typical of life in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Her style of writing is plain and straightforward, without complicated phrasings or over the top descriptors. Every line is a perfect image as clear as day. Reading Kumin’s poetry is a breath of fresh air literally and figuratively. Nearly everything she writes about the reader is able to relate to if they know living in the country. For example, if you are a dog owner and your beloved pooch has ever wrestled with a skunk then you know how impossible it is to get ride of that smell. Kumin writes, after many attempts to clean her dog, “skunk is still plain as a train announcement” (p 4). Exactly.
ps~ if you want to read this, try to find the copy illustrated by Barbara Swan. Her artistry is beautiful and compliments Kumin well.
Book Trivia: Up Country won Kumin a Pulitzer for poetry in 1973.
Author Fact: Kumin has experience with New England living. She is rumored to live in New Hampshire.
BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Prose By Poets” (p 194). In this case this is poetry by poets.
~*LunaSea*~ 