SPRING OF THE THIEF

Most of these poems first appeared in little magazines and Mr. Logan has published three other books. In the aggregate, these poems seem a trifle thin, full of poetic descriptions and vivid visual images and suggestions, but deficient in the final pungency of complete meanings. The richness of language trails off into inconclusive diffuseness, and the springs, pictures, swimmers, people described exist little while in the poetry but leave scarcely any after-image. The semi-religious poems are perhaps the best; one in particular is quite pure, still, and appropriate in tone and meaning. But elsewhere, despite many good lines, a lack of consistent control makes too many of these poems sprawl into other meanings, other words.