Backward to Forward: Prose Pieces

Rating:
Summary: Cool author, light reading, disappointing text
Review: This is a collection of prose pieces from an artist that usually works in poetry. Possibly as a result, the pieces are short and light. The author is influenced by early 20th-century British authors who would write about pastoral things like landscapes and such. The book is divided into two parts: the first is a fact-based fictional account of individuals at a 19th-century fort in Colorado, the second part is a collection of essays on modern and historical topics. This book had a great essay on Walt Whitman's possible racism toward Natives and a wonderful essay on the vulgarity of Mount Rushmore. Nevertheless, I didn't particularly enjoy this work. ... If I met this author in person, something tells me he would be one of the coolest, most progressive guys around. But I didn't care for this particular text.