Two Miles West

In TWO MILES WEST, imagination, memory, and dream entwine to create voices that leap metaphysical boundaries. Entsminger asks us to suppose "a time space lattice / imposed by a mind / composing images." In the realm of poetry, where an image in the mind's eye is as alive as a warm body, he explores the nature of knowledge. Endearing characters dance to the beat: Carisha in tawny hay fields, shirtless rain-soaked boys, a wanna-be western outlaw, pelicans disguised as lady's slippers, Bach composing on a supernatural plane, a gangling bald Russian professor, and a three-year-old boy's vision of Grandma "in full-cut apron / hugging her wide hips / canvas shoes to ease / sore feet smell of / onions and fried potatoes." Individuals try to connect: faces trapped in wood grains, "toes wiggle out to dance / teasing his stockings / bringing his fleet full stop / he lights a smile," young men following a trail round the hillside, a friend they pick up in a bar pushing "imaginary buttons / that fumble under fingers," and persistent Handpick & McQ musing on life, war, and women, parading down the highway. Like the feathery swaying bamboo in his Henry Evans tribute, Entsminger has a light and loving touch that reaches for a world and a human potential he believes in. "the sun eases / into a cloud lake / and cools / I walk on" The troubadour sings a love song. "A striking freshness, lyricism, and originality of voices-imagination and a sense of time and place characterize TWO MILES WEST. This uncommon first book of poetry has been seasoned by years of thought and experience. 'At night I pull the one runner curtain back / and look out the porch caves into ruined couch / below unshingled casts from lamplight.' You will be rewarded when you step into his light."-Michael Miller, author of LIFELINES "The debut collection of a poet as remarkable for his offbeat humor and Virginia down-homeness as for his hip urbanity: his love of jazz, qi, and an ideal world without fences. Among the many triumphs in this collection is Entsminger's invention of a noir Steve McQueenish-slash-Jack Kerouackian character named McQ. Some killer poems: 'Hazing,' 'Fallen,' 'Wind and Bamboo,' and the magnificent pièce de résistance, 'Old Bach.' Every day Entsminger, a Coloradan, looks out on views of evergreen meadows and snowcapped peaks. The scope of this book goes way beyond 'two miles west'!"-James Reiss, author of RIFF ON SIX: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS