Austin: a Poem

Written with knowledge and sympathy, the poem contains a delightful tangle of details. Lyndon Johnson, Elisabet Ney, Peter Flawn, Custer, O. Henry, and Joseph Jones (the sage of Waller Creek)–public figures and personal friends interact in the city of Oliphant’s imagination….A lengthy proem, set at the grave of Stephen F. Austin in the State Cemetery, contains a brilliant passage about Austin in prison…. The oblique narration is kept on track with masterful transitions….[T]he language is carefully crafted, with interesting and often beautiful sound-play in virtually every line.

–John Herndon, Austin American-Statesman