Until recently the Advocate read like the house organ for a literary club. The same names appeared again and again, and it became a polite joke to ask who had written for the new issue. No one would have minded this policy of nepotism had the quality of the craftsmanship been higher, but with two notable exceptions (Stephen Sandy and Arthur Freeman) the last three years have been meager ones. And so there may be cause for hope, since this long awaited April number includes a host of new writers and a surprising amount of fine work.

Daniel Eigerman leads the return to competence with the opening chapter of his unpublished novel, Heartboy. Eigerman writes smooth, rhythmic sentences; he had a flair for dialogue that builds his characters and has begun a tale that promises to be intriguing. Quite pleasantly, Heartboy does not smack of self-analysis; Eigerman has a story to tell and he tells it, without any unneeded verbiage or Angst.

Sidney Goldfarb, who has published before in the Crimson Review and Pharaetra, contributes three poems which I like very much. They show a good grasp of tone and an ability to restore impact to everyday phrases and imagery. Goldfarb avoids the purple passage, the overblown metaphor, and the "poetic" sentiment so common in the verse of young poets. instead, he turns out stanzas like these two from Mrs. Willy Cavanaugh, I Remember:

An in this house there is a man

Who loves me more

Than you

He loves me more than pink is pink

An more than blue

Is blue

Cause we play daisies in the sun

An sparrows in

The rain

An we play snowflakes in the clouds

An dew drops on

The pane