In the Backhoe's Shadow by Thomas Alan Holmes

The title’s object of a preposition, the backhoe’s shadow, is mentioned in the opening poem, entitled, “Jones Valley.”  In this poem, this shadow is an object that serves as a symbol of the transition from a generation close to nature to a generation dependent upon machines.  In the shadow of the backhoe, workers find shade, unlike previous generations who found shade under a walnut tree that was broken by wind only to give way to a cedar whose shade in meager. Those who experienced both generations, the poet relates, are “too past loss to grieve.” The backhoe, the poem’s words make clear, has been digging a grave in a family cemetery. What is being buried is not just a person, but an era, deserted by the poet’s family and neighbors who no longer farm here. “The poems in this fine collection are by turns plainspoken, meticulous, bereft, and at times, outrageously funny. Such a combination is rich and inviting. . . This is a book of honesty and affection and hard-won intelligence. One