Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs
Who would have thought that writers have eloquently poetic dogs, even writers who are famous for prose rather than verse, like Natalie Kusz, Gordon Lish, Bob Shacochis, Cynthia Heimel, and Roy Blount Jr.; even writers you hardly realizearewriters, like cartoonist Linda Barry? Well, they do, and here their dogs are, holding forth (thanks to editors Hempel and Shepard's groupings of their efforts) on such subjects of canine contemplation as "Chow," "The Good Life," "Substance Abuse," and "Theology" (Kathryn Walker's Flea posits a Big Dog creator; Mark Doty's Beau practices Zen). Some of these pups are even able to address us from the grave, including the inevitable nonconformist, John Irving's Marrow, who opines that "All dogs prefer prose." Tricked out with more than a few dual-author portraits (pick of the pack--Andrew Hudgins and Rosie, giving good tongue), this is as endearing and amusing--as earthy, too--as poetry collections get.Ray Olson--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.