HOOFBEATS, CLAWS & RIPPLED FINS: CREATURE POEMS

HarperCollins, 2002. 1st Edition 3rd Printing. Hardcover. New/New. Stephen Alcorn. CONDITION: NEW 2002 HarperCollins hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, 3rd printing. Wonderful "relief-block prints" by Stephen Alcorn. Tiny edge wear top DJ edge. CONTENT: Readers won't find sentimental odes to new puppies or baskets of cozy kittens here. These 14 poems, inspired by artist Stephen Alcorn's masterful woodcuts, celebrate animals in all their bizarre shapes and fierce wildness. From the bouncy, rhymed couplets of Lillian Fisher's "Camel" ("His body is lumpy, / knees calloused and bumpy") to the single line of contemplative free verse in Tony Johnston's "Iguana," the poems, most by well-known poets, range widely in style and tone. Many assume an animal's first-person voice with powerful immediacy; others are more layered and atmospheric. But each selection centers around physical images of the animals' distinctive movement, body, and personality, often echoed in inventive line shapes, such as the small, rounded lumps of print in "Here's Frog." Inspired by Stephen Alcorn's magnificent animal portraits, popular poet and noted anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins commissioned thirteen poets to craft verses to match the eloquence of this art. The resulting celebration of art and nature captures the subtle intensity and striking textures of a renowned artist's relief-block prints in a unique homage to the power, mystery, and beauty of the natural world.