EARTH LINES

An uneven British collection of 50 poems on environmental concerns—destruction of wildlife, pollution, acid rain, chemical additives, deforestation, etc.—with both serious and humorous verses (the tone is variously celebratory, cautionary, satirical, or bitter) and different forms (limericks, cumulative verses). Overall, the poetry is heavy-handed and didactic, with little original imagery, but some of the more serious entries use personification and contrast effectively: ``Dolphin Mother'' describes young dolphins drowning in tuna nets; ``Eating Disorders'' alternates the voices of an anorexic's mother and a Third World mother with starving children; ``Beauty Free'' compares a cosmetically perfect woman with a ravaged lab animal. The lighter poems can be clever, in a Silverstein or Prelutsky kind of way. The collection may have classroom uses, once the British expressions are sorted out—``E''s for a class of food additives, ``full- stop,'' (period), ``liquidiser'' (blender), etc. A few small b&w photos and cartoons are credited; no sources cited for the other illustrations, most of which appear to be clip art. (Poetry. 10+)