SILLY HORSE

Fourteen short, surreal poems originally published in Russian over 35 years ago see their first English versions, paired to dark, scratchy paintings featuring angular people and farm animals in countrified dress. The titular horse, depicted as a fastidious prancer with spots and a stylish perm, leads the way: “A horse has four shoes with black rubber soles, / Two of them new, but the others have holes. / If the weather is fair, no rain in the news, / The horse likes to wear her best pair of shoes.” Elsewhere, a couple crack nuts with their telescope and throw the shells off their roof, a curious cow confronts a stubborn turkey hauling a locked trunk, green “Mr. Croakley” rather ominously vanishes after “Mr. Quackley” passes by and a child yearns for a pet elephant. Some readers may be amused by the fitfully rhymed verses’ quirkiness, but this sampler is best considered a curiosity, for deeper collections. (Poetry. 7-11)