THE OLD DOG BARKS BACKWARDS

A posthumous collection of 77 verses published in magazines but not in books, and we trust there will be more such searches for more groupings from the pundit so civilly disobedient to the regimens of rhyme and meter. Most of these flip pensees have to do with fairly recent matters: the dieting maiden's ""allegiance"" to ""chemical ingregiance""; fashion (""Mini midi maxi!/ I'm off to Cotopaxi --/ TAXI!""); politics (""Spo-Radical and desul-Tory"") and Women's Lib in which he urges the ladies not to prosecute like the headline-hunting District Attorney -- ""Ta-ra-ra-boom D. A.""). But there are tributes to past glories like the music of Friml (""the sweetest. . . this side of Himmel""); or sharing Chicken Kiev ""with a Mitzi Hajos or Fritzie Scheff""; and even the ancient Greece of Electra, who was ""simply a daughter who was over-daddycated."" More Nash, inimitable and hopefully unlimitedable.