The Cuckoo

""The case for nonsense is not the same as the case against meaning,"" writes poet laureate Louise Gl ck in her introduction to Peter Streckfus's The Cuckoo, which she has named the winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. With repeated, wry invocations of Zen, Streckfus tracks the oddly nesting title bird through a series of set-piece-like short narrative lyrics and allegories, ""not sure if from fear or wonder.""