A Terrible Case of the Stars

Elizabeth St Jacques is the author of Echoes All Strung Out and
Survivors: The Great Depression, 1929-1939.

Robert Priest’s latest poetry collection is a blast. Its free-verse
and rhymed poems, with such titles as “Dancing with the Dinosaurs,”
“Sports Cocktail,” “Robot Teacher Breakdown,” and “Caterpillar
Kids,” explode with humor, brilliant colors, off-the-wall sounds,
rapid-fire repetitions, images, and angles that are as unique as
“automatic suits”—there isn’t a groaner in the entire bunch.
Moreover, the poems of a serious nature (“Elastic Light” and “Poem
for the Ancient Trees”) are equally captivating with their dazzling
imagery, rich phrases, gentle rhymes, and strong messages. Add to all
this Don Gauthier’s artwork, which slurps, waves, jiggles, soars, and
booms through the book’s pages, and the reader is hooked. Highly
recommended.