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Home from the Field
'Leo Dangel’s language is simple and homespun, his characters are recognizable and down home, his world is the perfect image of southwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. While Dangel’s poetry invites comparison with that of Dave Etter and William Kloefkorn, his work is unique in its wry understatement, vivid scenes, restrained feeling, fond tolerance for eccentricity, and vestigial prairie populism. Among his poetic characters, Old Man Brunner and Arlo loom especially large as archetypal curmudgeonous bachelor farmer and callow farm lad respectively. Two decades of devotion to his craft have made South Dakota native Leo Dangel one of the premier spokesmen for contemporary rural Midwestern life, and won him a loyal following of readers who ordinarily avoid poetry'
- GenresPoetry
233 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 15, 2016
Without a doubt, Mr. Dangel is now one of my favorite poets. I've been reading the book for years now, starting over at the beginning each time that I picked it up again. These poems spin stories, evoke emotions, stir up memories and transport me into a world that, while very different from my own, seems also one that I have inhabited, or should have inhabited, or if life was just a bit different would have inhabited. A rural life of limits and opportunities.
I read these poems with a sense of longing for the lives I haven't led and for my past that I can’t return to, even when they make me laugh.
In "Farming the High School Homecoming" he writes
It's not clear if any of the homespun people in this book are the author, or even people he actually knew -- but they feel true in the way that it is important for poetry to be true, and thus they are beautiful even as they eschew the decorative beauty of extravagant metaphor and lyrical allusions.
Still, though, these poems are finely crafted, the language carefully chosen. I read these poems aloud to my family. I like reading them aloud, those few I have read, because it slows me down and I realize the care that he’s taken. Also, because I want to own them somehow, to say, I am like these people, sometimes, or could be.
I feel that I should make this more practical somehow, that my words aren’t doing their job of informing you, the reader, about this book and its functional properties. Practically speaking, there’s very little information about the book itself thus far – that quote I gave isn’t even typical. If this were a Consumer Reports – or even a New York Times – book review it would be severely lacking. The book is structured as a number of smaller books, each has its own character and style, some are more to my taste than others. They feature many characters and points of view, some, like the adolescent Arlo and Old Man Brunner, will show up over and over, others will be there only once. The tone is both elegiac and wryly humorous and you should read it if you even like this poem a tiny bit:
You can find a few more of his poems here, which is where I got that one. (although I read it first in this collection.)
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org...
I read these poems with a sense of longing for the lives I haven't led and for my past that I can’t return to, even when they make me laugh.
In "Farming the High School Homecoming" he writes
Still, we were never in danger
of believing we could cover our plainness
with ceremony and tin foil.
It's not clear if any of the homespun people in this book are the author, or even people he actually knew -- but they feel true in the way that it is important for poetry to be true, and thus they are beautiful even as they eschew the decorative beauty of extravagant metaphor and lyrical allusions.
Still, though, these poems are finely crafted, the language carefully chosen. I read these poems aloud to my family. I like reading them aloud, those few I have read, because it slows me down and I realize the care that he’s taken. Also, because I want to own them somehow, to say, I am like these people, sometimes, or could be.
I feel that I should make this more practical somehow, that my words aren’t doing their job of informing you, the reader, about this book and its functional properties. Practically speaking, there’s very little information about the book itself thus far – that quote I gave isn’t even typical. If this were a Consumer Reports – or even a New York Times – book review it would be severely lacking. The book is structured as a number of smaller books, each has its own character and style, some are more to my taste than others. They feature many characters and points of view, some, like the adolescent Arlo and Old Man Brunner, will show up over and over, others will be there only once. The tone is both elegiac and wryly humorous and you should read it if you even like this poem a tiny bit:
Farming in a Lilac Shirt
I opened the Sears catalog.
It was hard to decide-dress shirts
were all white the last time
I bought one, for Emma's funeral.
I picked out a color called plum,
but when the shirt arrived,
it seemed more the color of lilacs.
Still, it was beautiful.
No one I knew had a shirt like this.
After chores on Sunday, I dressed
for church. Suddenly the shirt
seemed to be a sissy color,
and I held it up near the window.
In the sun the lilac looked more lilac,
more lovely, but could a man
wear a shirt that color? Someone
might say, "That's quite the shirt."
I wore the old shirt to church.
And every Saturday night I thought,
Tomorrow I'll wear the shirt.
Such a sad terrible waste-to spend
good money on a shirt, a shirt
I even liked, and then not wear it.
I wore the shirt once, on a cold day,
and kept my coat buttoned.
In spring I began wearing the shirt
for everyday, when I was sure
no one would stop by. I wore the shirt
when I milked the cows and in the field
when I planted oats-it fit perfectly.
As I steered the John Deere,
I looked over my shoulder and saw
lilac against a blue sky
filled with white seagulls
following the tractor, and not once
did I wipe my nose on my sleeve.
You can find a few more of his poems here, which is where I got that one. (although I read it first in this collection.)
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org...
September 16, 2018
This is a remarkable, mesmerizing book of poetry. Dangel’s poems are plain spoken and so emotionally generous that it will be difficult to not a shed a few tears while reading these poems. Mr. Dangel is adept at turning a phrase and using the length of a poem to get one phrase to change its meaning from banal to significant.
March 28, 2019
These selections of poems seem like essays or stories told by my grandfather. They flow together and you see the characters throughout many sets of poems. Dangle's voice is truly Midwestern.
September 23, 2011
Some of the poems are funny or just pain weird so i guess its an ok book. I dont really like reading poetry though, so thats probably why i dont like it very much.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews