As If It Were: Poems by Fred Chappell

If any other book gets any award for the most outstanding Appalachian poetry book of this year, one could easily argue that to be a travesty. Fred Chappell has to be considered one of a bare handful of the most distinguished contemporary authors of Appalachia, and, certainly one of the very most erudite. He has this amazing ability to make his writing accessible and enjoyable for the common reader while at the same time providing for those most knowledgeable about world literature all kinds of allegories, and symbolism, and framing devices, and eucatastropes, and stories within the story, and red herings and Chekhov’s guns and other devices that parallel previous works of both fine and folk literature. How wonderful it is that at the age of 83, Fred Chappell has provided us with a book of his poems that all relate to fables!  And – if you were doubting my attributing erudition to him – here are the headings under which he has organized the poems – Social Class, Social Function, Psychol