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johnreinhartpoet's review
4.0
Harborton is a short collection of descriptive poems, vignettes of place, of Harborton, Virginia's character. These poems evoke simultaneously a personal and general feeling of life in Harborton.
I'm torn between favorites, but generally I found the poems about animals the most effective. Lyvers's clean, clear images of animal life capture that moment when the falcons abandoned the field, and falcons everywhere and everywhen, or the "heron standing there/besides its perfect dark water/reflection/so still."
There's something chummy about "A Bear on the Docks": "He is simply there, and it would be odd/if he weren't, and his day is already half/over - the bear who stands on the dock with me."
Also, in "Just Like That": "The deer stand still for a long minute/before they turn in concert,/walking into the woods,/into the blinding radiance..." Phrases like the "long minute" characterize Lyvers's voice in these poems - clear, accurate observations that offer the reader a chance to be there too.
I'm torn between favorites, but generally I found the poems about animals the most effective. Lyvers's clean, clear images of animal life capture that moment when the falcons abandoned the field, and falcons everywhere and everywhen, or the "heron standing there/besides its perfect dark water/reflection/so still."
There's something chummy about "A Bear on the Docks": "He is simply there, and it would be odd/if he weren't, and his day is already half/over - the bear who stands on the dock with me."
Also, in "Just Like That": "The deer stand still for a long minute/before they turn in concert,/walking into the woods,/into the blinding radiance..." Phrases like the "long minute" characterize Lyvers's voice in these poems - clear, accurate observations that offer the reader a chance to be there too.
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