COWS AND SHEEP AND CHICKS THAT CHEEP

Painter and poet Florian delivers the latest in a long line of humorously themed collections.

A brown-skinned child wearing overalls and pink sneakers narrates 23 poems that highlight the animals, crops, and routines of the family farm. Florian’s signature wordplay appears in poems such as “Cows”: “Udderly calm, / and udderly still. / Cows are udderly, udderly chill.” With his visual jesting, the author often upends expectations by placing animals in humanlike settings. The cow reclines, sipping a cool drink, while elsewhere, a rabbit poses for a selfie. “The Barn” extols the importance of such buildings: “A place that’s safe and free from harm, / the barn’s the center of the farm.” The poet doesn’t shirk from the ongoing toil that comprises daily farm life. “Rise at dawn. / Mow the lawn. / Milk the cows. / Feed the sows. / Pull up weeds. / Plant some seeds.” “Corn” riffs on that plant’s long lineage in Mexico. Corn “grows / in rows / a-maize-ing,” while the facing page shows an image of a half-shucked ear spelling out the word maize in darker kernels. The mix of fact and fancy continues throughout. “Collie” sings the praises of an expert shepherd depicted in boxing gloves, holding predatory wolves at bay. “Llamas” portrays a woolly creature (whose “llovely hair makes fleece for yarn”) knitting placidly. Florian’s mixed-media pictures and punny verse charm once again.

A fresh look at the family farm.