FINGERS ARE ALWAYS BRINGING ME NEWS
By
What fingers perceive, told in slightly precious verses that represent various points of view. These fourteen poems start with ""New Fingers"" (""All new fingers want to do is to curl / Around something big"") and end with ""Old Fingers"" (""Most have blue veins that knot and beat within / A crinkly cover of used-up silky skin""); in between are observations (""Abigail's Fingers,"" ""Mark's Fingers"") on several kinds of touch sensations, some wistful (stars, sunlight) rather than actual, few particularly striking. They range from rattles and teethers to candy and canary wings, include country and city stuff (and a questionable ""I am blind""). Altogether the construct becomes tedious and the splotchy illustrations are unattractive.