pAlways spirited and elegant, by turns witty and meditative, Catharine Savage Brosman's Under the Pergola contemplates Louisiana, past and present, before traveling a broader path that crosses Colorado landscapes and the island of Sicily.brIn her eighth collection of poems, Brosman evokes the Pelican State's trees, birds, rivers, swamps, bayous, New Orleans scenes, historic houses, and colorful characters. She also recounts, in free verse, formal verse, and one prose poem, the misdeeds of Katrina as she and others experienced them.brOther poems range widely, from reflections on writers Samuel Johnson, Paul Claudel, Andr Malraux, and James Dickey to quiet meditations on the American West, Odysseus, fruits and vegetables, and the recent light years of the poet's life -- which she characterizes as silken... slipping smoothly off like a gown.p