It is difficult to determine just why Miss West, who in her recent autobiographical Hide and Seek (KR, p. 53) had so many affective perceptions, does not make a go of it in poetry. Possibly it is because in her verse she keeps a careful literary distance from her experience, using as she does, aphoristic conceits, and repetitive but not explorative, images and forms. The poems sound derivative and there's a hint of Millay and others: ""So earth in sea and sea in earth,/ The eye sees double from its birth""). She writes of death, natural forms, and love -- which can cause the burning of dream castles or can run out like coins collected from parking meters. These poems glance rather than look and reveal no particular secrets.