RavePalette PoetryBrown never gives into grievance, and these taut, thoughtful poems are much more complex than either memoir or manifesto ... Brown is subtle, and it’s that subtlety that gives his poetry power ... The leaps are as stunning as they are smooth ... While not a formalist, Brown acknowledges form, and he’s probably at his strongest when he does ... Are Brown’s brave attempts always successful? Naturally not ... In The Tradition, moreover, we might think of the Japanese word wabi, which means a defect that nonetheless enhances the beauty of the whole ... One might read The Tradition in any of a number of ways: as handbook of craft, as creed, as as platform, as statement of aesthetic, as all of these, and yet more than all of these together. What is important, though, is that one read it, and read it again.
