Like Wallace Stevens, whom she sometimes echoes, Katha Pollitt contrasts life and art. Process, especially aging and decay, haunts her; "longing" is practically the first word in "Antarctic Traveller." Yet art, for all its transcendence, is not a solution; it may even be illusion….

Moreover, life, for all its mundaneness, provides opportunity for celebration. Thus, "Five Poems From Japanese Paintings" are followed by five "Vegetable Poems."…

Whatever the reservations about art in them, these poems are beautiful objects. Stately, dignified, slightly aloof, they exult in polished diction and elegant surface. They delineate nuance….

Most important, they are a culmination; they are that country the poet-archeologist, evoked in "Archaeology," has devoted a lifetime to constructing…. (p. 17)

Bruce Bennett, "The Work of Four Poets," in The New York Times Book Review (copyright © 1982 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), March 14, 1982, pp. 12, 16-17.∗