A Daughter's Latitude: New & Selected Poems

"Old women ought to be explorers," writes Karen Swenson, paraphrasing T.S. Eliot in "A Daughter's Latitude." Swenson is no old woman, but exploration--as both physical experience and interior journey--lies at the heart of the 30 years' worth of poetry assembled here. As with Elizabeth Bishop, whose self-exile in Brazil deepened and matured her work, here travel forms a necessary companion to verse. And Swenson's travels are extensive; the book ought to come with a foldout map. Set in Southeast Asia, Native American reservations, and Brooklyn, it guides the reader through the darker side of American ambition. Her speakers have known personal tragedy and are attuned to the sorrows of others, as in the ominous and witty "Missionaries":

Jungle like green heads of broccoli--
the husbands helicopter over it
to the waiting front line of faith where
headmen squat on naked haunches
wearing necklaces of safety pins
while wives drink tea,
embroider, knit, or nurse a twelve-year-old
through quinine visions in late afternoon.

Swenson anticipates bad behavior from Westerners, whether in a remote Malaysian village or on the front porches of Fargo, North Dakota. Unfortunately, she's rarely disappointed. Swenson also writes for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and her work combines a journalist's attention to detail with a keen narrative intelligence and an unmistakable, lyrical voice. Well worth exploring. --Edward Skoog