The Mouse Whole: An Epic

A boyish rodent named Samson bids farewell to his folks and sets sail down the sewer, aboard a discarded envelope, seeking adventure. He chats with a wise rat, weds a loyal mouse spouse, encounters a fairy goddess and surfaces near the banks of a mystical big city. Wholesome kidstuff? Hardly. This odyssey, penned in 200-plus pages of dazzling trimeter couplets, is black, raunchy and metaphysical. Think Heart of Darkness as written by Mother Goose. The rat's a lech, the wife's a burden and the goddess is a tease named Phyllis. Moore's abundant grossnesses are humorous, often puerile and disturbingly Freudian. Most center around envy over Samson's tail size, that prodigious ``thing devoid of hairs.'' There are major swipes at parenthood (``Those who in a spasm/ of hot enthusiasm/ thoughtlessly beget us:/ how soon do they regret us?''), the burdens of responsibility and our perceptions of existence. Moore (A Question of Survival) delivers an unexpectedly absorbing, often disconcerting reading experience likely to leave many a grownup reader longing for his or her mommy. (Jan.)