61st Book: Review Date November 21, 2001 girl of a thousand trees by Michele Walker 2000 by Inertia Press 64 pages In this slim, self-published volume of 29 poems, 10 of which are in a prose form, Michele Walker shows wisdom well beyond her 30ish years. She uses this wisdom well to correlate many childhood events and feelings with those of her young adulthood, as well as take a poets look at certain facets of life. Nearly all of the poems are written in a first person, young female voice which is going to have me stating she, or Walker, when I mean to say the poem's speaker. The book begins with "pangaea's slip," which was to be the title of the collection until Walker realized most people she talked to did not remember that pangaea was the name of the original land mass that has split into our now current seven continents. Walker frets about buried pets, as she has lost many over the years she grew up in suburban Illinois, burying them all in one corner of the yard, ten inches below the surface. Her companion doesn't understand her worrying, never having buried anyone but his mother, and certainly pets don't compare to a mother, especially to somebody who has never had pets. A great question arises, if the yard of the house you were buying contained a pet cemetery, would you want to know? "ants" is a great poem in which she remembers burning ants as a child, pouring gasoline over the ant hill and tossing a lit match into the gas, standing nearby with a watering can to control the blaze. She contrasts this with being in ninth grade, where boys would spill butane from lighters onto their jeans and light themselves on fire. The fires always went out when the butane ran out, nobody ever was hurt. She reveals how she likes to be close to danger, to gain that thrill, as long as it is a controlled danger. The title poem reveals the guilt she feels over an event from when she was ten years old, playing in a tennis match she prayed hard for the end of. Out of nowhere parents drove up to the court, grabbing their children and driving away towards home, seconds ahead of a tornado, which eventually uprooted trees and caused the ruin of her mother's car. Growing older she realizes her prayers had nothing to do with the tornado, but still holds onto the guilt of that destroyed car. A poem near the end of the book, "chlorine," deals nicely with escape. As a 15 year old, her father made her get a job in the warehouse of a friend of his. This was to make her more productive, the waking up at 4 a.m. to swim and more practice at 4 p.m. was not enough apparently. An 34 year old woman named Theresa befriended her. Theresa would partner up with her and while she worked, Theresa would smoke and talk. She realizes that she has the pool to go to every afternoon, and would not have to go back to this job after the summer and knew what her escape was. Theresa on the other hand, had only her. There are many other wonderful poems in this collection, but the one I enjoyed the most was the look at those who exercise in public. The contrasting of the public's general adoration of professional athletes while we show incredible disdain for joggers, cyclists, and even roller bladers. Using examples of herself jogging and comments hurled from passing vehicles, "whore", and "cunt" come to mind ring true to life. It is an interesting look at how we adore those who are dedicated, and blessed with a special talent, while those who are just dedicated are frequently looked down upon, perhaps due to our guilt at not showing the same dedication. Another plus to this particular poem is that the jogger wears a concert shirt from the tour of the single greatest album ever released, The Replacements "Tim." Walker has put together a very readable collection of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and memories. It is very consistent and while the writing is clear, and concise, it is deceptively layered. The book is short enough to do a re-reading, which is useful as the reader gains insight into Walker's themes and processes the further into the volume they go. I very much look forward to future work of Ms. Walker, and plan to go deep into the back catalogue as well. 4 stars. Daniel E Wickett wickettd@yahoo.com click on "books" at www.emergingwriters.net to see other reviews by Dan.