All the small poems and fourteen more Book

This is a lovely collection of very short poems about myriad things. There's a wide variety of topics and I was fascinated at the different ways of describing the things. Occasionally, the poem would provide a different perspective, such as how fleas see their world from the back of a dog.

We read the poems fairly quickly (the book was coming due at the library) and I suppose we could've lingered over them a bit more, but on the whole they were fun and fast to read.

For some reason, our oldest, the poet, really was antagonized by this book. She may have just been in a grumpy mood when we started it, but she couldn't take me reading it anymore. sigh... And our youngest was falling asleep. So I finished the last few poems by myself. I thought it was terrific.

my favorites:

sun

"The sun
Is a leaping fire
Too hot
To go near,

But it will still
Lie down
In warm yellow squares
On the floor

Like a flat
Quilt, where
The cat can curl
And purr." (p. 9)

frost

"How does
The plain
Transparency
Of water

Sprout these
Lacy fronds
And plumes
And tendrils?

And where,
Before window-
Panes, did
They root

Their lush
Crystal forests,
Their cold
Silver jungles?" (p. 138)

kaleidoscope

"Only a litter
Of bright bits,
Tipped and tumbled
Over each other
Until they huddle
Untidily all
In one corner,

Where their
Reflections wake
And break into
Crystals, petals,
Stars: only
The tricks of
Mirrors, but

Still miracles,
Like snowflakes
Shaken from jumbled
Clouds, or earth's
Rough muddle
Jostled to
Jewels and flowers." (pp. 142-143)

key

"Mute mysterious
Token, burnished
Metal carved into
Grooves and flanges;

Glinting with
Clues and codes,
Reflecting exactly the
Secret of its lock -

But never, until
All its clever
Little tongues click
Round and home,

Will it tell
What hides in the
Shadowy house, the
Silent, expectant room." (p. 177)