Greatest Hits 1965-2000

Grace Butcher

Grace Butcher has been doing it for a lot of years, and that pretty much made her a natural for Pudding House Publications' long-running Greatest Hits series of chapbooks. Butcher, who's written a lot but whose presence in the world of book publishing has been scarce at best, showed that her iron critical eye is still just as strong as it ever was, choosing roughly twenty-four pages of work (it's a thirty-page book with an intro).

Now, I'm the first one to admit that the kind of spiritual-contemplation-of-life-the-universe-and-everything poetry is not usually my teabag. But Butcher has something that makes it work. I've no idea what that something is, but it turns, say, "Three Grammatical Chicken Stories," which would be a stultifying lesson plan in the hands of most poets along these lines, into something wry and sharp.

If you're not familiar with the work of Grace Butcher, that's not terribly surprising. Her books have been so few and far between that each one really does qualify as something of an event. This one brings together a too-small amount of her work that makes for a very good introduction. Hunt it down. You'll be glad you did.