Reviews
Some Church
From "Library Journal"
"He is Everyman (and woman); His poems make it easy to recognize our common stake in world affairs."
A Flower Whose Name I Do Not Know
From "Library Journal"
"When I was a boy the neighbor/ across the street built a bomb shelter." Romtvedt's work is at once personal and political, an awkward mix for most poets, but he manages to come down on issues and still keep himself and his experiences at the center of the poem. Besides the bomb, he addresses such contemporary topics as a "peace blockade," a nuclear accident in the Ukraine, and a Trident submarine jockeying for position in the Straits of Juan de Fuca near Bangor, Washington: "The air is the same air/ I breathed in Paradise/ and Buchenwald." Romtvedt travels from Hiroshima to Guatemala, from Zaire and Rwanda to Arkansas, collecting people and their stories. He is Everyman (and woman): His poems make it easy to recognize our common stake in world affairs. Highly recommended for anyone who reads poetry seriously.
- Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Certainty
"It is nice to hear from this poet who at his best gathers what is serious and what is dreamy and what is funny
and makes them stand up together. David Romtvedt is like a loyal consul who represents a species that has done
some terrible things: undeluded, he still loves us, and keeps laying out more high-hearted policies for us all." -Carol Bly
How Many Horses
"After reading How Many Horses, by David Romtvedt, I'd like to say that his writing gave me chills. His poems
read like stories. He makes you see how much you've forgotten about life's real pleasures - like the earth underneath your feet,
the in your eyes, and wide open spaces. He makes you see through the moon - and more. Makes you wish you could run free
like a wild horse, understand what they obviously do and we don't: how to be content. And to tell the truth, I've always been
afraid of horses, but not now." -Terry McMillan