Internal West

by Priscilla Becker

Poems that offer a science of the human.   

The poems in Internal West practice a careful empiricism, offering a science of the human, a way to understand the world through watching and listening. Becker’s poems are as much in the Eastern European tradition of Daniel Simko as the American tradition of George Oppen. As the poet herself has stated, her main themes are the complete truth of what her life has been; of feeling alone even in supposed relationships.
 

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite working at a bookstore, I'm long defaulted to the library because I recognize that most books don't beckon me back after I read them. Priscilla Becker's "Internal West" is an exception, so now I'll be purchasing a copy after the fact. This debut collection of lovelorn poems magically teeters between existential awareness and the very specific pain that typifies the unwanted end of a relationship. Some of the poems have a fantastical aspect ("Snowdonia," "Influence," "The Sand Girl's Implicit Death"), some feel shockingly real ("Verisimilitude"), and some like versified diagnoses ("Much Later and Very Far Away"). Whatever the stylistic slant, Becker's ability to turn an unforgettable, philosophically attuned phrase is a constant: "So we were wrong about the future / because I think this is it and it's like / nothing we ever said or thought" (from "The Return"); "I will probably not love you anymore / after tonight. Or I will but without hope" (from "Him with Her"). As these lines quietly show, Becker's not pulling any emotional punches and her eloquence is never showy. What she is is one of a kind.

[John Keats · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that contemporary poetry leaves me feeling excluded too much--like I just can't know enough about the life, or the scene, or the experience, to share what's being expressed. And since I find myself going to poetry when I'm in need of feeling close to something personal, getting elbowed out of what's going on is kind of annoying. So Priscilla Becker, while as enigmatic as expected, gave me enough moments of powerful, raw pain that I was glad I tried to peer into her world. The first lines of the first poem, "The Backyard"--"One day the sky grows up and stops/impressing us with blues and plots/of light"--is a pretty, insidiously simple reversal of what really changes with time: you. The world, alas, keeps on, relentlessly, brutally, waiting for all of us to get it. And we get it slowly. "Things I Have Decided Since" brought me to the book, and it's still my favorite. "I tried to lose you in the Mato Grosso jungle/ but screamed when it got cold." Beautiful. Terrifying. And there's that external world again, flexing its horror, swallowing, here, all the comfort she hoped a lover cold bring.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Priscilla Becker's work in an old issue of The Paris Review, and was so moved I immediately went to buy a book. "Internal West" is one of the best contemporary poetry books out there. I'm not sure what happened to her poetry career (this first book of hers is from 2002 and she only has one additional book I can find) but the language and emotional power is unparalleled. Thus, I will be buying and immediately reading her second book. Well done.

[Mills College Library]

811.6 B3961i 2001