The Never-Ending
The subjects of Hudgins's third collection vary widely, including the death of Christ, the demise of a love affair in a cellar, and compost. Hudgins weaves together poems on four themes: nature, religion, his family, and, of course, that old standby, love. The poems lock together and form a sort of jigsaw abstract of life. Hudgins's main strength is his ability to cut to the core of a subject with a deep emotional intensity, then circle around and attack it from another angle, as in "Praying Drunk," and "Heat Lightining in a Time of Drought." The poems are blessed with startling imagery: deer are "enormous rats on stilts;" sirens are "lullabies/ they sound like making love." In one "prayer" poem, Hudgins speaks in slang to God; he tells God he hears from an old girlfriend, then asks, "Do you?" It's surprisingly effective. In one poem he writes with humor, although as he says, "This is my favorite sin, despair." As Hudgins spins his tales, you want to follow him into "the starting over. And then the never-ending." Recommended.- Doris Lynch, Oakland P.L., Cal.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.