Western Where

In his new collection, poet Tim Hunt looks for Where, and what, remains of our national myth of the West. The "West" at the heart of Tim Hunt's new poetry collection is of course a real place in terms of its geography and history, but more importantly it occupies a central space in the psychology and mythology of American identity, and the "Where" of his title situates us at the nexus of all of these dimensions. It is also a deeply personal account as Hunt writes from the perspective of a working class childhood in the hill country of northern California, and his family lore (and fiddle) appear along with places now vanishing into, and out of, memory. But the mythologized West also plays a problematic role in our national politics, and in part Hunt has undertaken this project in response and rejoinder to that usage, particularly in the multi-part poem "In This America" that concludes the collection, a place where "God / turns our Fear into Hate / and we shall call it Love / and Righteousness / unto The End of Time" and "nuthin' says / Don't Tread on Me // like K-Mart Camo, some chaw, // and that nice T-Bone / on the propane grill." Read this book to find out who we are, how we got that way, and just perhaps where we might be going.