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Erica Funkhouser"s fourth book is full of animal and human pursuits: a leaf-cutting bee careens from branch to branch, looking for the right place to nest; a frustrated farmer stalks her garden"s invisible predator; a young woman insists on walking the length of a canyon whose river terrifies her; a dying man tries to avoid death long enough to die gracefully. Whether driven by elemental need or sublime desire, the inhabitants of these poems are actively engaged in seeking of every kind—physical, intellectual, and spiritual. Their very effort animates them. Pursuit is also devoted to the details of living—what we build, how we eat, our solitary and communal habits, our obsessions, how we amuse ourselves, how we find and endure love, how we survive. As Rosanna Warren wrote of the poems in Funkhouser"s previous collection, "They have the feel of experience rescued from the conventional by a great steadiness of regard." ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Fabulous
Poetry is more about what words evoke rather than represent, but Funkhouser succeeds at both. Objects, places, people are captured in strong brush strokes, bringing their world to life, brimming with emotion, like the first taste of apple pie, or coffee while reading the sunday papers. She understands the power of single words, and hammers them into poems both solid as crates and elusive as fragrances. Down to earth becomes sublime. Love it! ... Read more

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The gifted author of Sure Shot (about which The Harvard Review wrote, "Erica Funkhouser has written an important book and is on her way to becoming an important poet") has now composed her third volume, including lyrics that conjure up a sisterly view of childhood, a narrative poem that brings to life a city under siege in civil war, and a group of poignant shorter poems dramatizing love, pain, and history. Much anthologized, Erica Funkhouser's dramatic poems are models of their kind: "Funkhouser breathes new life into the legends of Sacagawea, Louisa May Alcott, and Annie Oakley . . . but her most moving poems are those in her own voice" (Library Journal). To get the shape right one must be capricious as a twig - crave sunlight and audience and leave things open to the rain - respecting, at the same time, the solemnity of the whole tree. Certain irrevocable decisions must be lived with. - From "Pruning"Amazon.com Review
Joyce Carol Oates counts herself among Erica Funkhouser's admirers, pointing to Funkhouser's "unusual clarity of vision and language." The real strength of The Actual World is Funkhouser's dramatic poems. In it she has dusted off and jump-started the legends of Louisa May Alcott and Annie Oakley, among others. Funkhouser demonstrates her ability to imaginatively project herself into a situation and carry the reader with her. The voice she has found in "The Dog" is especially appealing: "I love how he rows his fingers / the wrong way through the fur on my back, / pulling and growling and lifting his heels / as if he were the one being pleased." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Spellbounding World
Funkhouser delivers a fasinating book of fantasy and reality. A trip that you won't want to find an exit out of. Her words will set you reading the book over and over. ... Read more

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The first part of Erica Funkhouser's SURE SHOT comprises 26 lyric poems of surpassing tenderness. Refusing to observe her world complacently, she brings a tough precision and richness of emotion to family life and the relations of friends and lovers. The inventiveness and humor of these poems are rare in contemporary poetry. The second part of SURE SHOT consists of poetic monologues that reconsider America through the eyes of three nineteenth-century American women--Sacajawea, Louisa May Alcott, and Annie Oakley. These dramatic poems explore both the inner worlds of these three extraordinary women and their responses to the central events of the century in which they lived. ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Erica Funkhouser, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 803 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

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This digital document is an article from Poetry, published by Modern Poetry Association on September 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2751 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Actual World. (book reviews)
Author: Bill Christophersen
Publication: Poetry (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1998
Publisher: Modern Poetry Association
Volume: v172Issue: n6Page: p337(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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