MY DOG IS A CARROT

“EEEEEEEK! Poetry!” squeaks the dismayed dog on the cover. Readers who aren’t scared off by the warning will find within an entertaining, if uneven, array of free verse and shaped poetry selected from Glad to Wear Glasses (1990). Hegley writes of eyeglasses, dogs (including one with an alimentary problem), carrots, colors, and various other quirky topics, usually in a jocular tone but occasionally waxing earnest, as in “Bully For You”: “If you’re being bullied, / tell. / Tell your parents / tell your guardians / tell your caregivers.” The page design adds to the free-form spirit, with vivid color changes playing off each other on facing texts or backgrounds, abstract geometric shapes alongside or behind the lines, and occasional childlike cartoons. Despite some duds, like “Loaf Poem” (“I bought a loaf the other day / it came to life and ran away. / And I said, / ‘Naughty bad bread. / Naughty’ ”), this is worth considering for deeper collections where such sparklers as Paul Janeczko’s A Poke in the I (2001) have created new interest in concrete poetry. (Poetry. 8-10)