Emily Stew with Some Side Dishes (review)

Almost all of these two dozen poems focus on various Emilys—Emily Song "sang all day long," Emily Pemily "ate a fat toad," Emily Omelet "didn't like eggs," while "Emily Radish/ and Emily Squash/ and Emily Potato/ were vegetables." As that brief catalogue would indicate, the poems' subjects have a variety of experiences and adventures, some tending toward the strange ("Princess Emily Elizabeth Margaret Onion/ Augustus Montague von Esterhazy" is eventually eaten by a tiger) and some cozily mundane (in "Berry Berry Sad," Emily struggles with blackberry seeds stuck in her teeth). The result is an assortment that goes beyond offbeat to sweetly surreal; while the nonsensical touches recall Carroll and Lear, the musing tone, touches of sophistication, and casual, absent-minded rhyme suggest the English modernist Stevie Smith. That means that en masse this is likely to be best appreciated by capable readers, especially those who have mastered the likes of Florian and Prelutsky and are looking to push their boundaries a bit; individual poems, however, could easily be shared as readalouds to younger audiences (and if Emily changes her name to that of the listener in a one-on-one sharing, who's to tell?). McPhail's ink sketchwork has a somewhat younger appeal than the poems, but it gains sophistication from its crisp, thin lines and air of wildness. There is no index, but a table of contents helps with poem-hunting.