The country of the blue

the long version

This twelfth volume of poems by Charles Edward Eaton is unique among his works in that it is concentrated on a single theme: water - reminding us, as Melville said, "Meditation and water are forever wedded." Superb vitality and action are also present in these vivid poems about the sea, inland waters, swimmers, ships, and voyages. An ardent swimmer and frequenter of the beaches of North and South America, Eaton gives the reader "the country of the blue" in all its manifestations, bringing up to date a fundamental interest illustrated in his second collection, The Shadow of the Swimmer. The color blue is as exciting and provocative to him as red is to a bull, and he returns this passionate charge to the reader.