Some local literature is so intensely local that it disappears into the cracks in the sidewalk. Although I am interested in Texan literature, I found this detailed biblio-autobiography by Texas poet Dave Oliphant to be a tough slog. The prose is not tight, and the author's incessant celebration of the charms of his Chilean wife Maria are cloying. The most interesting sections had less to do with his writing and more to do with his academic jobs. Some of the situations that Oliphant encountered in academia were so transcendently lousy as to confirm my suspicion that education is one of the worst and most cut-throat careers, and that if you want a genteel intellectual atmosphere, you should go find some agreeable corporation to work for instead. ( )