Case 5.3

Lape,Walter, John Quirk & Lawrence Allen. Three Adirondack Poets: Walter Lape, John Quirk, Lawrence Allen. 32 Vol. Glen Falls, NY: Loft Press, 1982. SPEC PS548.N7 L36 1982.

Collaborations among regional poets in the mold of Three Adirondack Poets are something that I found to be very popular. I have selected a sample of each of the three poets’ work (my personal favorites).

I found the concept of bathing in your home waters to be very interesting in Walter Lape’s “Upstream,” perhaps because I find myself constantly writing about bodies of water without even meaning to; it’s great subject matter.

The personification of things in nature gives new dimension to poetry; it makes it easier to say things that have not yet been said. John Quirk does this very thing with “The Fog Slips Its Collar” when the fog is “ambling” or has “quick, wet breath”.

Lawrence Allen’s first line in “On Returning to Bear Pond” had me hooked immediately (I’m all about opening lines): “When I was sixteen, you were eternity”. The natural world is addressed here, rather than merely referred to as something that exists.