Poetry

If you thought the hotel-room wrestling scene in Borat was extreme (and extremely funny), check out Taxidermia. This wild, multigenerational saga from Hungary's Gyorgy Palfi makes Sacha Baron Cohen's potty-humored faux-doc look like a kid's trip to the candy store. Visually dazzling and outlandishly obscene, Taxidermia begins in old Red Army days, with a lowly orderly prowling around the farmhouse of his lieutenant, spying on the officer's daughters as they undress and bathe. After a not-to-be-believed scene that brings new meaning to the phrase "hot sex," the orderly Vendel beds (in a manner of speaking)

Jessica Thom, who admires the writings of Sylvia Plath, Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost, is Bucks County's 2003 high school poet of the year. Thom, who will be a senior at Central Bucks East High School in Buckingham, won the $400 top prize in the poet-laureate program coordinated by Bucks County Community College. Entries came from 185 high school students throughout the county. "I try to keep my poetry short and to the point, not too obscure, easy for everyone to understand," said Thom, who writes about family, friends and relationships.

Ten-year-old Andris Mezgailis turned the Matisse postcard over and over in his hands before he began to write. The card showed a painting by the 19th-century French artist called Icarus, from Jazz. Icarus, a character from Greek mythology, tried to fly but fell into the sea and drowned when the wax on his artificial wings melted after he got too close to the sun. The Matisse painting showed a blue figure flailing against the sky, a splash of red spotting his chest. Andris wrote slowly, carefully, in looping pencil script, his impressions of the picture.

By Louis Zukofsky New Directions. 846 pp. $24.95 Reviewed by Bob Perelman The reissue of Louis Zukofsky's long poem "A" is a most welcome event. In the innovative regions of the poetic universe, Zukofsky is a major presence: Thanks to the enthusiasm of figures such as Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and the Language poets, there now is a population of admirers who will be glad "A " is back in print. For most of Zukofsky's career such an outcome would have seemed highly implausible.

In time of the crises of the spirit, we are aware of all our need, our need for each other and our need for ourselves. We call up our fullness; we turn, and act. We begin to be aware of correspondences, of the acknowledgment in us of necessity, and of the lands.. . . And poetry, among all this - where is there a place for poetry? In this moment when we face horizons and conflicts wider than ever before, we want our resources, the ways of strength. We look again to the human wish, its faiths, the means by which the imagination leads us to surpass ourselves.

Sylvia Plaskonos has resurrected quite a few dead poets this year at Mary Devine Elementary School in Croydon, and some live ones as well. The works of Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe and Clement Moore (" 'Twas the Night Before Christmas") as well as contemporary children's poets Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein have not languished on the school library's bookshelves since Plaskonos, the school librarian, decided that her life's mission was to turn students on to poetry. Last fall, she was at a librarians' conference where she heard the idea, and she was immediately excited by it. "If they can read, then the whole world opens up to them," Plaskonos said as she donned a Dracula costume and headed down a corridor for her weekly classroom visits to read poetry.

The United States goes wrong when it doesn't live up to its Constitution. South Africa goes wrong when it does. "In this country, you had a Constitution which insured certain rights and (black) people were denied those rights and they appealed to the law and to the government to uphold their rights," says black South African poet Dennis Brutus, for 20 years an exiled opponent of apartheid. "In South Africa, you have a Constitution that says 22 million people can't vote, and if they try to vote they go to prison.

Kenneth, 17, has many interests and participates in a variety of activities. Very energetic and athletic, he likes sports and plays basketball and volleyball. Music is also a big part of his life. He plays the guitar and recently started taking piano lessons. Kenneth's creative side is evident from his skillful drawings and the poetry he writes. Friendly, respectful, and courteous, he rarely has a problem in his foster placement or at school. Kenneth does well in school in regular education classes, maintaining a B average.

The scene at King Street Espresso Bar in Gloucester City gave new meaning to the concept of variety show. Ernest Cipolone, 87, of Brooklawn, who has been writing poetry for 60 years, read his verses before an audience for the first time. Afterward his 12-year-old grandson, Peter Cipolone, also of Brooklawn, hoisted his accordion and led the audience in a rousing "Beer Barrel Polka. " The eclectic open-mic night June 21 was the latest event sponsored by the Gloucester City Cultural Arts and Heritage Society, a new group that aims to foster artistic expression among residents of the working-class community of 12,000 on the Delaware River.