Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9404240269
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviews by Harriet Little
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ Michael Chitwood recently visited a group of students at James River high school both to read from his poetry in "Salt Works" and his newest as-yet- unpublished work, and to discuss writing poetry.
Chitwood writes, he says, every day and equates his daily writing with any sustained activity such as exercise which must be continued regardless of weather _ both interior and exterior. Chitwood's ideas for poems come from experiences as well as from memories such as those of summer jobs working in a weaving mill. "Weave Room" and "The Mill" are two such memory-inspired poems.
The title comes from recurring images of salt in his poems combined with the disparate connotations of salt itself as both destroyer and preserver. He refuses to classify the "Works" of the title as noun or verb, though the word could be used as either.
The "Salt Works" poems contain vivid images, such as those in "Transport." "You can wake up in Rome/ and go to sleep in War, West Virginia./ You can be so moved/ that the strobe of the only caution light/ on the empty streets of 3 a.m. War/ throbs the same as your heart, your head/ still awake in the old light of Rome./ What of it,/ people fly everyday./ No need to be amazed/ the way the hillbillies were,/ leaving town on the `Brother Johnson,'/ or `Friend of Charleston,'/ for the glide down to Richmond/ where you could buy bananas anytime/ and the lights stayed on all night."
Chitwood grew up near the Blue Ridge, so such familiar place names as Saltville, Raphine and Roanoke appear throughout the poems. The deceptively simple poems themselves express a variety of emotions from the humorous to the deeply touching in spare, evocative language.
To the students, Chitwood also stressed the importance of revision in poetry, as in all writing to communicate ideas and experiences clearly to the reader. The students, used to the more traditional forms frequently included in anthologies, responded enthusiastically. As one student commented after the visit, "Chitwood's poetry is warm, funny and pleasing to the ear and mind. His poetry makes me happy."
These students join with me in recommending "Salt Works."
\ Harriet Little teaches at James River high school.
by CNB