Reviewed by Matthew C. Brennan Indiana State University

Lenard Moore's first two full-length volumes of poetry explore widely different subjects - Forever Home (1992), the poet's familial roots in rural North Carolina; Desert Storm (1993), the war in the Persian Gulf. Nevertheless, both books comprise the "sensual truth of locality" - to borrow from Guy Davenport - and express it through the techniques of imagism. Moore's "Author's Note" to the second collection reveals his intention "to paint a picture" in his poems, and Davenport's introduction to the preceding book accurately links Moore's approach to the Realist tradition. But at their best Moore's poems not only depict vivid scenes, they also betray a muted desire for transcendence that is "beyond speech" ("Joining Twilight").