Ishmael's Violets

The "slobber, lick, smack/lust-gush-gimme" poems in the wonderfully titled Ishmael's Violets by Vivian Eyre sink down down down into the maw and the awe of the marine, whale foremost and last. "Come closer," beckons the sea. "Catalog of Acceptances," "Aquarium" and the sonnet "The Visible Invisibility of Danger" are outstanding in a book chockful of real empathy in murky waters, extending to Fudgie, the ice cream whale who is devoured at Dad's party. A collection to take beachward to await ...