Edges of Water by Maureen Owen

(Chax Press 2013)

Like Lorine Niedecker, Owen grew up in the rural midwest and the space and quietude of the country is ever present in her poems. Like Niedecker her poems are also both objective and surreal. But Owen also brings to Edges of Water the include-everything impulse of the New York School, and the visual splendor of an artist-poet. Following the edges between things, she creates a gorgeous hypnotic world of images and action, her focus ranging from a bead of sweat to camels walking at midnight, from the daily news in Denver to the “snow slowly drifting off the wicker porch chairs.”   Her titles are spectacular floating poems of their own. It is always a pleasure to drift and daydream with Maureen Owen.