SMALL TALK
A Book of Short Poems
edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins & illustrated by Susan Gaber
Thirty-three little texts, none longer than 12 lines, set one to a page and graced by either a miniature painting inside a simple geometric frame or a full-bleed double-page watercolor. The poets range from Mother Goose to Richard Wilbur, and include Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Christina Rossetti, as well as some of the luminaries in recent children's poetry: Myra Cohn Livingston, Aileen Fisher, X.J. Kennedy, Eve Merriam. Grouped roughly by season, these are predominantly nature poems, with a few about relationships, and the concluding one, Victoria Forrester's ``A Poem So Spun,'' about the uses of poetry. The pieces are thoughtfully selected and coherently organized, not for their subject matter but for their lapidary quality, the aptness of their imagery, and their economy of means. Collections shouldn't pass up this volume simply because they already own Valerie Worth's Small Poems books (FSG, 1978-1994) or an extensive range of haiku. In a field of little books of little poems, this one is outstanding. (Poetry. 5-10)