Disappointing book, mostly for production reasons. Simic seems to have found a recipe for poems, and these don't veer much from that, though his humor may be getting a little more arch and dark. The book itself though, is badly printed, sloppily bound, and the worst affront (in my opinion)-- in the list of his previous publications at the front of the book, they list "Charon's Cosmetology", which should obviously be "Charon's Cosmology." Shocking and unforgivable! This is the newest book, in hardcover, by the poet laureate of the United States, and the distinguished publisher Harcourt, and it's got typos. The book made me realize that almost no one in the poetry old-guard establishment cares about poetry any more. Sad. ( )