Linda M. Hasselstrom

Bitter Creek Junction (Poetry of the American West) Linda M. Hasselstrom First edition

The west found in Linda Hasselstrom's poems is neither the mythical Old West nor the New West of ranchettes and trophy homes. Hasselstrom's aria is set to the rhythms of the authentic West, laced with lyrical realism, and distilled to the sharp crispness of a plains morning. Here you'll find th night heron whose "slender beak descends, a sudden hammer on a silver spine." You'll "give yourself sunsets...in shades of pink and gold" while "long tatters curl eastward like discarded ribbons." You'll met Death riding as the Horseman, and again when he steers and oncoming car then "comes to th reunion picnics, pushes to the front in all the pictures." And you'll confront the darkness lingering ovr the West, casting shadows of violence and abuse on a place called Bitter Creek Junction.