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Channeling Hieronymus Bosch, but with a smile, newcomer Berger services her collection of urbane nonsense verse with cut-paper collages featuring cone-nosed, stick-limbed creatures, most resembling insects in wildly variegated garb, all strewn across the pages with postmodern abandon. In variously curved and snaky lines, she invites readers to venues as diverse as “Josie’s Cabaret,” where “One hundred ants / In lime green pants / Are feeling so trés trés,” and “Zeppelins . . . flown by spotted ladybugs / and errant dragonflies.” She introduces “Rodeo Rosy,” “Foxy Fox,” and other colorful characters, chronicles an abruptly terminated friendship between Wiley Croc and Goldie Fish, and brings the journey to a close with a soothing lyric addressed to “Lullaby moon.” Reminiscent of Calef Brown’s daffy outings, but less forced, this debut should inspire plenty of chuckles from fans of all that is oddball. (Poetry. 7-10)
