Other Americas

by Richard Robbins

Traversing hidden landscapes of memory and the American West, Other Americas , by noted Minnesota poet Richard Robbins, explores back roads and intersections of private history and public life--set against a vast terrain of rugged beauty and mystery. In evocative, haunting language, Robbins summons a cast of visionaries and ghosts seeking promises of the country's past while scanning uncharted, uncertain horizons ahead. From beaches and streets of Southern California across empty desert pans to lost mountain lakes high in the Rockies, Other Americas features a series of poems by a wonderful writer, illuminating shadowlands across an expanse of time and space.

Genres: Poetry

122 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Richard Robbins studied with Richard Hugo and Madeline DeFrees at the University of Montana, where he completed his MFA. He has published seven books of poems, most recently The Oratory of All Souls, which Lynx House Press released in 2023. He has received awards from The Loft, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Society of America. From 1986-2014, Robbins directed the Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State University Mankato, where he recently retired from the creative writing program.

Reviews

[Karsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was predisposed to give this two stars or one because the title sounds like a 90’s diversity-sensitivity manual, and the blurbs use phrases like “map the many privacies” and “the secret momentariness which is America’s human dream,” which I wouldn’t much like in poems let alone about them.

Then I opened the book, though—which I have to remember to start doing without prejudice—and started reading things I love: New Mexico, sons and fathers, recurring characters with interesting first names, a color palette bled off of curled, square instamatic prints, the best 1950s roller derby poem I've seen. That one was followed by a longer poem set ten years later that let drop that the roller girl had never performed on the show because she was pregnant.

The book is a kind of shadow-history of America's last few decades, at least in the west, at least in one network of family and others who cross each other's paths. There are narrative threads connecting throughout the book, along with so many fine lines: a woman who left her husband “by moving into her loneliest day”, a worker who “eats the machine salad of noise to unseal heartbeats of quiet”, an immigrant who “went without imagined meals and cash, spoke Spanish to the oaks.”

There’s also this bracing argument with Walt Whitman: “It has come time to praise and curse the reach of your arms across minor hills and barren cities…How casual your call that we kiss the face of AIDS on the lips and wash the feet of the beaten…Walt Whitman, you have ruined the earth for us, praising oily lagoon and salt palace alike.” I’ve felt that discomfort reading Whitman, and I wish I knew what he would say in response to our more tired America living with so many consequences.

Finally, I was delighted by the sonnets scattered frequently through the book. Taken together, their construction makes its own fine American statement: We love our traditions and rules, but we'll be damned if we're gonna conform to them like you expect. These don’t rhyme consistently (though there are some great internal surprises) or follow strict metrical patterns (except that at mostly 10/line, these are essentially syllabics). However, the 14 lines (except for the 12, 15 and 16 liners), the octaves and sestets, and especially the turns in every line 9 (or so) are electrically traditional.

I read too quickly, and I’ll read this again (if only for the line 9s), but for a few hours today I loved the last 60 years of America—not proud, not ashamed, just these are my people, this is our multitudinous home.

[James Figy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Other Americas, Robbins explores how experience and place are tied to each other. A person's memories transform the geographical location into something more, creating another nation of one's own invention. The titular poem as well as Rain, the four-part long poem at the end, really killed me. It's a great read, especially if you are into well-crafted verse and the landscapes of the American west.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robbins, the poet, takes the reader on a superb journey across America. His lyricism and distilled wording conjures up the beauty that many take for granted. I read this book over several days. No matter where I was, in my screen porch with my cats, or in my living room listening to music, I was swept up by Robbins' words and images. It was a beautiful ride through the vastness of the west. Robbins' GPS for the poetic is rendered at full effect here. As a guide, he maps out meaningful territory. With summer approaching, I was smitten by his open road observations. I recommend that readers travel with Robbins using this book as a guide.