I almost never pass up a book of poetry even if I have no knowledge of the author so long as the price is right which explains why I read and am now writing about "Feather River" by Paul Foreman (1943-2012). I acquired a copy of the book during my recent long vacation which included Austin, Texas, which was apparently the stomping ground of the author. A little research has shown me that Paul Foreman was much more important to Texas and the world as an editor and publisher than as a poet. He was the founder and owner of Thorp Springs Press and did a great deal of work to promote and publish Texas writers including J. Frank Doby of whom I had previously been aware. I cannot really say, based on reading this one book, that I have been impressed by the writing of Paul Foreman. He was formally trained as a scientist and a historian. His poetry reflects that. Paul Foreman had a penchant for penning poems for his many friends and several of the pieces in this book are inscribed to several of those friends. He also had a penchant for writing essays about writing, history, and interesting people he had known. Those essays are sometimes more palatable than his poetry. For me the high points of the book were an essay about the writer Frank Waters and a poem about a man Don Foreman who, at least in the poem, appears to have been one of those larger than life figures who tend to impress everyone they meet in a positive manner.
If you are a student of Texas writers and/or Texas poetry, then, by all means, read this book and learn all you can about Paul Foreman. If you are seeking high quality poetry which will stay in your heart and mind over time, look elsewhere. I will stop short of saying that reading this book was a waste of time but I will not give it a ringing endorsement.
5 comments:
interesting to find this review for this book. glad to see someone actually wrote a review for it praising something even if it wasn't his poetry... Paul Foreman was my father and i know a lot about the subject. try his Texas Live Oak and Redwing Blackbird for some of his better poetry, Feather River was not his best in my opinion but is unique in some ways, particularly the poetry involving naming stones, i have a good youtube video of that performing on stage with his friend, the famous folk singer Utah Phillips. J. Frank Dobie: D-O-B-I-E you spelled that name wrong, just have to correct you there. dad helped preserve the Dobie house which is now turned into a place for a writer's retreat program with the university of texas at austin. yes he was an activist as well as poet and publisher- he worked for the Fred Harris campaign in California, and was on the Austin Arts Commission for seven years. his work with COSMEP was very important for texas small press evolution. he spearheaded a revival of the Texas Poet Laureate system which had been defunct for over 40 years and helped get William Barney the win that year. his college studies did include US History, however he was a self educated geologist. he had no formal education in geology other than a collection of books and the president of the US Geologic Society in Davis, California said my father knew more about these dunite ores than he did.
his "stomping ground" was actually Thorp Spring, a suburb community of the city of Granbury, Texas which is West of Fort Worth. he was born there and grew up there, was in the navy during vietnam, policeman in Los Angeles during the Watts riots, worked at the post office in Berkeley California. frequented City Lights books where he became acquainted with Allen Ginsburg, Lawrence Ferlengethi, Czeslaw Milosz, Gary Snyder, and many others. Josephine Miles was one of his educators in english and writing at UC Berkeley. started his publishing activism there in Berkeley. after my dad died his friend John Campion told me that he used Milosz' Nobel prize money to publish Campion's first book of poetry and Campion is now (well was in 2012 when my dad died) he said he was currently now the English professor at UC Berkeley. my sister was born in California in 1977 but Paul wanted his kids to grow up in Texas and convinced his wife, my mother (who is also a poet and very important member of the Thorp Springs Press enterprise), to move to Austin where i was born in 1979. there was a lot less political activism going on in Austin than Berkeley in 1977 so he got into the arts more and had the Brazos Bookshop in historic downtown Red River. the location of the old Bookstore was later turned into Stubbs BBQ and Ampitheater where a lot of famous musicians have performed at
Don Foreman was his older brother, a "wild"man and prospector, played baseball in the air force, golden gloves boxer, really an amazing character. Really larger than life person yes, wish he had not died when i was about 8 years old. Don was the one that influenced Paul to become interested in geology and prospecting. across the span of around 20 years my father and myself went on many trips hiking up and down mountains in California, Nevada, Texas, and Mexico because of that.
sorry to write so much, felt the need to add a few corrections and some background details. he did a lot of important things as a publisher and activist that are not written about very well as he is still not very well understood or known in the literary world. too easily people just focus on his cheap poetry which was why he started his own press and did the radical stuff with NEA and COSMEP because the big publishers in New York city did not like his little books of country boy poems. my father Paul had a saying "freedom of the press belongs to he who owns a printing press." i noted that those poems that were written for friends... he didn'[t just sit at home and write a poem about a friend... many times i watched in awe when he would write these poems right there on the spot for whoever's birthday or wedding or whatever occasion. takes real talent to do that. i'll never forget when i was a young child he taught me about iambic pentameter
i remember dad taking me once as a young boy to meet Frank Waters at his home in Taos. before Book of the Hopi, no one had ever written their story because their history is told as an oral tradition, they had never written any of it down.
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