James Jones, was the leader of one of these cults,
which Jones eventually moved to Guyana in
South America. Because of reports that cult mem-
bers were not being allowed to leave, U.S. Con-
gressman Leo Ryan Jr. visited Jones’s compound
in November 1978, along with a small crew. After
Jones became certain that his compound would
soon be invaded, he ordered the congressman
killed. Ryan, along with an NBC correspondent
and a newspaper photographer, were murdered.
Jones then ordered the members of his cult to kill
themselves. In all, 913 people committed suicide.
In 1979, approximately 450 demonstrators
over-ran Marine guards and seized control of the
U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran, taking sixty-six
hostages. The hostage drama played out on tele-
vision for the next fourteen months. President
Jimmy Carter lost his re-election bid, in large
part due to his inability to secure the hostages
release. However, Carter was able to accomplish
the feat, and as Ronald Reagan was being sworn
in as the new president, the embassy hostages
were boarding planes for their trip back to the
United States. The hostages’ return in January
1980 marked the end of a particularly turbulent
decade. No wonder the blackberry patch seemed
to offer so much renewal; the world beyond a
rural place was not nearly as peaceful.Critical Overview.
Many books of poetry are never reviewed, but
Kinnell was already well known in 1980 when
Mortal Acts, Mortal Wordswas published. Har-
old Bloom’s review for theNew York Timespro-
vides an indication of Kinnell’s importance as a
poet. Bloom began by noting that Kinnell’s early
work showed enormous promise and that each of
his subsequent books has included some very
good poems, including this most recent collec-
tion. Bloom selected a couple of poems from
Mortal Acts, Mortal Wordsfor special mention,
but not ‘‘Blackberry Eating.’’ Bloom described
‘‘Wait’’ as ‘‘beautiful and gentle’’; another poem,
‘‘There Are Things I Tell to No One,’’ as ‘‘gener-
ous, honest, and open.’’ Bloom compared Kinnell
to Walt Whitman in the development his
‘‘descriptive powers,’’ as evidenced in still anotherA New England farm in autumn(Image copyright rebvt, 2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com)
Blackberry Eating