Choosing to Be a Swan: New Poems

British poet Bensley writes fresh, often funny poems that clarify--if fleetingly--the confusions and absurdities of modern life. Her irony is sharpest in poems about love and sex--particularly the awkward, ordinary or uninspired moments. The hilarious ``Hoi'' records the lovemaking ritual of camels (``foreplay in the camel/ consists of foaming at the mouth''). In the wicked ``Personal Column,'' a married man's illicit request for ``diversion'' is sadly noted by a Vicar who hopes for ``conversion,'' studied by a blackmailer interested in ``perversion'' and, finally, answered by his own wife, who's similarly ``spoiling for diversion.'' With trim lines, these poems rarely exceed a page. On occasion, Bensley uses traditional forms like the villanelle or, even more appropriately (as in the sassy ``A Cure for Love''), employs the loping meter of a limerick. Throughout, swift wit and spare, palpable details combine in a benign perversity. (Dec.)