DORN, Edward. Westward Haut. West Devon: Etruscan Books, 2012. First Edition. Trade paperback. 240x174mm. 53pp. New.

Westward Haut is a poem of the Plains, using I-80 as the kind of spine of the east and west. I'm treating it like the longest strip town in the world.... It's just like the motorized western expansion, but now it's not covered wagons and horses. It's people burning oil. The main character on I-80 is a trucker, Joe Ochenta, which means I-80. The other axis, from Lima to Cheyenne, has these dogs, Odin and an Arabian beauty named Saluki travelling on this plane and doing all sorts of deals. They are meeting Joe Ochenta in Cheyenne. It's like it's the other part of Gunslinger, but there's no Gunslinger -- there's no centralizing character in that respect. This is more like a crowd, but it takes care of the other part of the west. It's not the Southwest. -- Edward Dorn