Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry (review)
2006; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 59; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2006.0375
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)American Literature and Humor Studies
ResumoReviewed by: Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry Deborah Stevenson Sidman, Joyce Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry; illus. by Michelle Berg. Houghton, 200632p ISBN 0-618-44894-2$16.00 R Gr. 2-4 When a dog who lucks out by finding an open door encounters an abandoned cat, the initial result is the age-old combat between the species; however, a sudden downpour turns the wet and cold pair into fellow orphans of the storm and sees them snuggling up together under the shelter of a picnic table. The story is a little stretched (especially when the cat seems to have found a new home with the dog's owner at the end), but this tale is about execution more than plot, with the images relying on carefully structured print to provide significant visual elements as well as textual ones. The opening spread, for instance, creates its ajar front door with a parallelogram of text reading "Door opening," while the unpromising ground is enumerated across the bottom of the page in gray phrases such as "tramped-on not-lawn much-trod crack-filled anthill"; a misty white block of text reading [End Page 422] "just a tiny puff, a swirl of frosting-cloud" floats against the blue background of the sky. Other text operates as motion lines (bouncing scalloped semicircles over the bounding pup read "must run run run run don't want leash want speed want FREEDOM!") or free-floating dialogue (from watching crows or passing bugs as well as from our two protagonists). Though not all the image or textual elements could strictly be considered concrete poetry, the result is actually more interesting for its more broadly imaginative interpretation of the remit. There's an I Spy pleasure to hunting down the various bits of wordplay that may entice some reluctant readers into being eager searchers, and clever detail—grassy blades growing out of the top of the letters that constitute the lawn, the rounded, fluffy font of the words for the clouds—adds subtle texture and interest. The art's flat graphic style tips a bit toward Hello Kitty sweetness in the dog and cat themselves, but their simplicity is a useful foil to the conceptual intricacy of the textual portion of the art. This title is rife with possibilities for art, reading, or language curricula, and it could serve as an early introduction to concrete poetry for readers not yet ready for Janeczko's A Poke in the I (BCCB 6/01). Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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