The Most of It
These 31 "stories" from poet Ruefle (Indeed I Was Pleased with the World) are more like brief squibs, close observations and meditations. "Snow," for example, expresses the wondrous and sexual sense of benediction the narrator feels when it snows. "The Diary" appears as a girl's autobiographical reflection on growing up on her father's troubled "diary farm." A cardinal "looking like Santa Claus" seems to mimic the behavior of humans in "My Search Among the Birds." The pieces' brevity and whimsy sometimes veer into single sentiment gags, as when detailing (in "A Certain Swirl") a sentence's sense of abandonment in being left on the blackboard after the class's departure. This collection showcases Ruefle's considerable lyrical powers and memorable flights of fancy.(June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.