| Poems That Take On the World
Anne Hyde Greet's new collection of poems, Musk Ox and Other Poems, pays tribute to the natural world with earnest interest, skill, and keen observation. Set in Canada, Hawaii, New York, California, and her own back yard in Santa Barbara, California, Ms. Greet (known to her friends in Santa Barbara as Anne Cushing) gives us a glimpse into the world as she sees it, and as she so capably and lovingly describes it. Whether writing about animals, the natural world, places that are important to her--or that are important to people close to her--Ms. Greet approaches her subject with gentle humor, tenderness, and respect.
The chapter titles of Musk Ox give a look into the subject matter of the poems: California Garden; Hendry's Beach (in Santa Barbara); Rooms Remembered; Overheard at the Monterey Bay Aquarium; and Marvelous Encounters. But what the titles don't reveal is the intensity and wit of the poet and the individual poems.
Musk Ox captures animals: the musk ox in his world of willow, with his lacquered hair parted in the middle; aging sea otters and their wise way of conserving energy; the gentleness and languor of a young horned toad; a herd of caribou and its unique kind of running; the numerous animals--tame and wild--that visit her garden.
These poems also focus on places: a friend's home, after she's gone; a parrot in the living room; homesick time spent waiting in a hospital; the poet abandoning her home and possessions, except for a few--"I'll take him along, The dog, the bird but that's it."
Musk Ox is about the life of the poet, observant and quietly moved. But these poems are also about the subjects of the poems themselves. We learn about the details, small and large, that make up the lives of wildlife and people and places the poet presents to us.
 About the Author
Anne Hyde Greet was a professor of poetry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was a Fulbright Scholar (1950) and Guggenheim Fellow (1971) and was the recipient of an NEH Grant to organize the International Apollinaire Colloquium (1980). This is her second book of poems. Her first, Spring Ecolgue, was a Book Club for Poetry publication. She has also published translations of Greek, Latin and French poets, including Apollinaire's Alcools and Calligrams for the University of California Press. She has had poems published in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, New Statesman, Archaeology, Colorado Quarterly, and Western Humanities.
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