Stones for the River God

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
author of Calling Texas.

This is a quiet—at times almost inaudible—collection of poems. They
are unified by a contemplative tone and recurring images of stones,
wind, water, and moonlight. The style is consistent, dominated by short
lines with frequent pauses. A little more tonal variety would seem
desirable, and more flexible use of poetic line, but there is a power in
Baltensperger’s persistent reflections. The high points of the volume
are “Moon Goddess,” with its superb use of repeated imagery of milk;
“The First Stone,” with its fresh look at art and experience; and
“Women in the Theatre,” with its amusing critique of male sexuality.
Baltensperger’s book is not merely a collection of poems: it is
genuinely a composition, with form and pacing and interlocking
reflections on time, change, nature, and the subtler states of human
feeling.