SARGASSO


Vincent 0. Cooper, Trevor Parris and Joseph Lisowski.
Three Islands.
University of the Virgin Islands Press, 1987.


 Recently received at Sargasso is a small volume
containing poems by three professors from the University
of the Virgin Islands. Three Islands is a modest
publication commemorating the University's twenty-fifth
anniversary, and is the first to be produced solely by
means of the University of the Virgin Islands' own
printing facilities.

 Contributors to the volume are Vincent 0. Cooper,
Trevor Parris, and Joseph Lisowski. Prof. Cooper,
holder of a Ph. D. from Princeton, chairs the Humanities
Division at the University and also teaches classes in
English and Linguistics. His work previously has been
published in Caribanthology 2, VIP, Scholastic Voice,
and Proud of Our Land and People: A Virgin Islands
Poetry Collection.

 Trevor Parris is also in the English department at
the University. A versatile writer, Prof. Parris is
author of the novel Got a Bite: A Story for Children
and of many poems published in various magazines and
newspapers known in the West Indies.

 Other English department professor-poet is Pittsburgh-
born Joseph Lisowski. Having left an early career as an
accountant, Prof. Lisowski received a Ph. D. in English
from SUNY at Binghamton. Besides his work in English
literature, Prof. Lisowski studied classical Chinese
under J. P. Seaton at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. He now translates the poetry of Wang
Wei and P'ei Ti. Lisowski also has finished three
novels, two children's books, and several mystery stories.

 The poems of the three range over a variety of
experiences--some local to the islands, some universal--
and represent steps successfully taken in mastering the
craft as well as the stumblings that come with taking on
impressive "poetic" themes.