On the Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems, 1950-1988

This selection of poems by Koch (Seasons on Earth) is a thoroughly enjoyable assortment of work (including a few unpublished poems from the '50s). Koch's imagination is at once philosophical and fiercely whimsical; his digressions are always clever. Lines from ``Fresh Air'' capture the frustrations felt by his generation of writers in the '50s and '60s: ``Where are young poets in America, they are trembling in publishing houses and universities,/ Above all they are/ trembling in universities, they are bathing the library steps with their spit/ They are gargling out innocuous (to whom?) poems about maple trees and their children... Oh what worms they are! They wish to perfect their form.'' Also featured are excerpts from longer poetical works, most notably ``The Art of Poetry,'' detailing 10 rules to be observed before a poet ``releases'' a poem into ``the purview of others'' (the seventh: ``Is there any unwanted awkwardness, cheap effects... or other literary, `kiss-me-I'm-poetic' junk?""). At times, one could read Koch's playfulness as a ``cheap effect,'' yet that would be unfair. For another Koch poetic directive is to be ``young in one's heart.'' Whether writing with virtuoso skill in ottava rima, blank verse or free verse, Koch practices what he preaches. (Nov.)