Salvatore's Daughter

Modern poetry often becomes so nostalgic that it loses perspective and quite often sounds like self emulation. When one is fortunate enough to encounter a contemporary poet who gathers memories and plants them for all of us to share, without being so general that there is no connection to past or present, it is illuminating to know that readers can identify with those same experiences, even though they may be distant from our own. Mary frances Wagner ties us to the experince of being a daughter, a cousin, a friend, and enables us to share the immigrant's daughter's love of nationality, of race and of gender. In "Thanksgiving Dinner" the writer's technique of capturing through what is not said the essence of what is becomes so artisitc that very few writers will ever do it better. The absence of comment is paralleled by the structure and development of the poem. Such technique is very rare in today's poetry. This book of poetry is a salute to a presence that will always be evident in her life. Through the use of the senses Maryfrances enables the reader to experience the loss and the love that prompted this book..."Yesterday I packed/a dozen black sacks/set them by the curb,/one heartload at a time." captures the loss of a loved one. "Of a thousand hands/I would know my father's/long fingers shaped like oars,/the index scar/the flat, grooved nails,/hands that fixed the doll's arm,/meded Whisker's ear, checked homework." are lines from the poem "Hands" that capture the life of the loved one. This excellent collection of poems is for those who have loved a family, have shared a loss, have retained the love. As poetry it is excellent in form, style, and development.Those who read for enlightenment will enjoy this book. Those who read for illumination into the art of excellent poetry will learn. Enjoy.

David Anstaett