ONE EYE AND A MEASURING ROD

Several of these poems appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and other magazines and in The Young American Poets (1968). The poems are, in fact, best read singly since each has an off-beat unexpectedness which is fresh and witty. But the book is not a whole: the tone is sometimes ponderous, as in a long poem about the death of JFK, or sentimental. This is not a life statement but objective poetry for the sake of poetry, of playing with words, odd images, unlikely juxtapositions of slang and mythology. The Prince kisses a dragon who turns into a Princess: ""Come alive, I sang, you're/ in the Pepsi Generation. She/ was annoyed. . . . She wanted not a song/ but love."" Unfortunately, the Prince preferred her as a dragon: ""She died upon my kiss in disbelief."" Lighthearted, unorthodox; sometimes failing but the work of a poet whose trials and errors are fun to watch and full of real substance.