Wise to the West

<p>In <em>Wise to the West</em> Wendy Videlock embraces her Western terrain and surroundings-family neighbor barbershop morning shower coyote badger wolf blackbird hawk canyon mesa mountain-with songs odes witticisms lamentations. Along the way she tilts toward the grand view of the world around-relaying turns of uncertainty or affirmation history or the latest news myths and the mystic-and gifting us musings and meditations in her unique style full of quirks wit wisdom and surprising turns. In <em>Wise to the West</em> Videlock delivers yet another inspired and delightful collection.</p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span></p><p>Here in the west whatever</p><p>one's pain</p><p>one never complains</p><p>about the rain.</p><p>What's good for the plains is bad for harvest.</p><p>What freezes in spring</p><p>is sugar-beet borrowed.</p><p>The river depletes.</p><p>The groves expire.</p><p>What blooms</p><p>in summer is wildfire.</p><p> </p><p><strong>PRAISE FOR WENDY VIDELOCK:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>[Videlock's] craft is worthy. Her delicate turning of a line is as breathtaking as it is brief.</p><p> - Jeffrey P. Beck <em>Borderlands</em></p><p><br></p><p>The wordplay is irresistible.</p><p> - Ann Drysdale <em>The Shit Creek Review</em></p><p><br></p><p>She has a playfulness with the language and an undeniable wit that makes her work rather difficult not to enjoy.</p><p> - Marissa Fox <em>Gadfly Online</em></p><p><br></p><p>At play in the spacious fields of her wit and down to earthiness.</p><p> - Matt Sutherland <em>Foreword Reviews</em></p><p><br></p><p>Just as one can walk into a room in an art gallery see a painting for the first time and immediately recognize it as a Van Gogh or a Cezanne one immediately knows when one is reading Videlock.</p><p> - Jeremy Telman <em>Valparaiso Review</em></p><p><br></p><p><strong>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Wendy Videlock lives on the western slope of the Colorado Rockies with her husband and their assorted critters. Her work appears in <em>Hudson Review Oprah Magazine Poetry Dark Horse</em> the <em>New York Times Best American Poetry</em> and other venues. Her books are available from Able Muse Press and her upcoming collection of essays and haibun <em>The Poetic Imaginarium: A Worthy Difficulty (Lithic Press) will appear in mid-2022.</em></p>