The Dust

Poetry. THE DUST, J. R. Solonche's twenty-first book of poetry, is a worthy addition to his oeuvre. In poems like Purple Crocus, Skunk Cabbage, Opossum, There Is an Insistent Green, Such a Noise in the Woods, and many others, his eye for the natural detail is as keen as ever. And his celebrated wit has never been sharper than in A Shotgun, The Beast and Beauty, The Attainment of Entertainment, Bad Botanical Garden, Fifty-Five Poems Starting with Lines by Emily Dickinson, and The Devil's Villanelle, which alone is worth the price of admission. Behind it all is Solonche's humanity, grace, and good humor. True, you might have to pull back the curtain a little, but you'll see him there all right, looking out at you, a twinkle in his cold eye.