THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

This is a collection of poems written between 1929-44 -- and selected as his own choice for permanent form. Wit and wisdom, yes; Chris Morley in his various roles -- the columnist turned poetist. There are a few stray bits of sheor beauty, fragmentary lines; the range is from serious lyrics to nonsense -- I liked the nonsense best. There's lots of thoroughly quotable material which will tempt one to piracy -- but there's a very little real poetry. Most of the material has appeared in periodicals -- much of it under pen names.