Austin

"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