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Title: More contemporary, regionalist pablum...
Review: Well, here we go with another minor poet. Can Carter write decently? Yes. Can he project his voice beyond the derivitive clones that permeate modern poetry? No.His recent background is respectable enough. A couple of minor awards. A hefty catalogue of printed poetry, a modest and vocal following. The problem is his choice of subject matter. While regional poetry (in this case Indiana) may seem aw-shucks down-home and interesting to those of us in the more urban of locations, Carter still fails to deliver on a sense of "worldliness". His verse seems contrived, and each piece reads as if he were valiantly fighting to achieve that higher level of writing you'd expect from a national poet. Then it dissipates. It leaves you scratching your head and wondering why he was incapable of taking it further.Read it for its curiosity. But I would recommend spending your money on the poetry of Seamus Heaney or Robert Bly.
