The Never Wife

"The Never Wife" is a very open and direct book with just enough cryptic passages to tantalize the intellect, but not so many as to frustrate the casual reader. There is however, an abundance of obscure referents which seem culled from personal history rather than erudition. As the title would suggest, Hogue's writing is part of the feminist discourse so I read this book with an unchallenged detachment. However, one line struck me as quite remarkable, "For dazzling her ken, the season / looms with its rubied trees of ruth.". Rubied trees is a fine description of fall foliage and dazzling her ken suggests an aesthetic response I can identify with. Ruth means sorrow or regret. It is a Middle English word. I don't think poets should use archaic words in their poems.