Five Poets of the Pacific Northwest

One of the advantages to spending a lot of time in the library is that occasionally you find some rare treasure of a book hidden among the bestsellers. Five Poets of the Pacific Northwest is an older anthology; it was complied in 1964, shortly after the death of notable northwest poet, Theodore Roethke.

All of the poets in this small anthology are northwesterners, either by birth or inclination, and all have been noticeably influenced by Roethke’s work. The similarities end there, however, for all five have distinct styles and differ greatly in subject matter. Some write about loss in a lyrical style much like that of the Chinese poets, others focus more on simple, earthy language to describe the landscape of the northwest and their travels through it.

This is a lovely little volume, well worth reading for anyone fond of poetry and the beautiful northwest.