Book Review
Title: Moon on the Meadow: Collected Poems
Author: Pia Taavila. 
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, 2008.
ISBN: 978-1-56368-364-0, Paper, 140 pages
Cost: $24.95 
Reviewer: AimŽe Gramblin
      
      When I was an elementary-aged child, my Dad and I took an American Sign Language class. Learning the alphabet was all it took for me to become captivated and mesmerized by the language. When Moon on the Meadow: Collected Poems came to my attention and I saw the author, Pia Taavila, was an English professor at Gaullaudet University, I was immediately interested. My curiosity was satisfied by a collection that offers a window into disability culture as perceived by a hearing Child of Deaf Adults (CODA). Moon on the Meadow winds around many universal themes, including childhood, having children, familial roots, romantic involvements and dissipations, experiences of learning and teaching, and communion with nature. We are given glimpses into the deaf community on a personal and general level. Although these poems do not dominate the collection, TaavilaÕs highly imagistic poetry is informed by her experience as a CODA. 
      
      In her astute and beautifully written introduction, Taavila cites Ezra Pound as one imagist poet from whom she draws inspiration. Amy Lowell is another imagist poet who comes to mind when reading TaavilaÕs poems. On the predominance of images in her poetry, Taavila states: 
      
      ÒIt is a seeing and seeing again, that shapes my work. It is the direct 
      result of being raised by deaf parents, whose entire method of communicating 
      with me was primarily through our hands and eyes, through a touch on the 
      shoulder. Concrete. Tactile. Animated. ExpressiveÓ (p. xxv).
      
      Earlier in the introduction, we are provided with helpful insights into TaavilaÕs dance between the hearing and deaf community: Òmy overall feeling is one of gratitude for and celebration of being a quasi-member of two cultures, even as that identity was often one of confusing and overlapping allegiancesÓ (p. xxii). This sentiment resonates in TaavilaÕs poem ÒThe Deaf Club Sails to Bob-Lo IslandÓ: 
      
      ÒWhen Daddy spun and dipped her low,  
      she came up laughing.  
      How did they know 
      to move their feet, which steps to take? 
      How did they feel the drum lineÕs beat? 
       I saw them dance to private musicÓ (p. 19). 
      
      The poetÕs reverence for her parentsÕ private language is obvious here; we feel a longing from Taavila to be an exclusive part of her parentsÕ deaf culture, while she is instead faced with the ongoing struggle of being ÒotherÓ in both the hearing and deaf communities, thus providing an important poetic tension which holds together the entire collection.
      
      The writing in Moon on the Meadow is self-assured and varied, serious and playful. As Taavila works within traditional poetic forms, such as Haiku, she also stretches their limits. Moon on the Meadow consists of many previously published poems and lends itself to being read in snippets as each piece stands on its own. All the poems are presented in a continuous stream, which feels a bit overwhelming at times. For such a dense collection, guideposts such as section divisions would have proven useful. But this is only a minor annoyance. TaavilaÕs collection, observant and vivid, promises to have a far reach into several audiences, including those interested in disability culture, poets and poetry enthusiasts. 
      
AimŽe Gramblin, English M.A., University of Central Oklahoma, has had Arts columns appear in Urban Tulsa Weekly and poems published in journals including The Mid-America Poetry Review and The Rectangle. She was the 2006 University of Central Oklahoma Creative Studies Program Geoffrey Bocca Scholar.  She may be contacted at dna_gramblin@yahoo.com
ramblin