Range of Light

In Range of Light, Catharine Savage Brosman offers lyrical and narrative poems about the American West and Southwest, from Wyoming to New Mexico to California. She explores three different types of ranges--mountains, grazing ranges, and the scope and spectrum of light, a constant motif. Employing a variety of verse forms, she evokes the landscapes, animals, folk art, prehistoric peoples, and historical figures of this captivating area. Scenes and objects are not inert, but humanized by the action of past figures or by observers, seeing the West, modifying it through their presence and being modified in turn: "Green emotion binds / the muscled landscape to our gaze." The region as a whole, with its tremendous differences and varied history, but shared identity, comes alive under Brosman's touch--to be experienced and admired.