Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Henri Cole

Critical Essay by Henri Cole

SOURCE: A review of Nurture, in Poetry, Vol. 156, No. 1, April, 1990, pp. 48-50.

Here, Cole appraises Nurture, commending Kumin for her continued depiction of environmental issues and her modesty, which he describes as "divine translucence," in her verse.

Maxine Kumin is a senator for man and beast and earth. She speaks for the caribou, the manatee, the orca, the arctic fox, the Aleutian goose, the trumpeter swan, the dusky seaside sparrow, the broodmare, the grizzly bear, the Scotch Highland heifer, and all this only to begin a list, for there are also three generations of kin to consider and a plot of land to be worked. Please let me not be counted among those critics who devalue her "overabundance of maternal genes." In a world where dolphins are sacrificed daily for our light lunches of tuna fish salad, should there not be one among us to take up...
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