The Love Letters Of Phyllis McGinley

ASIN B0006DDTY0 - From a mother missing the days when her kids were young (Ballade of Lost Objects, The Doll House) to a certainty that rain follows the author everywhere (Notes Written on a Damp Veranda), McGinley's writings are of things almost anyone can relate to - the every day, the mundane. At the lighthearted end of the spectrum, she pokes fun at Bloomingdale's menu (Song of High Cuisine) and tells us that their cook is in love (Eros in the Kitchen). For every mother of a melodramatic young teenage girl, there's the wisdom that "Thirteen is nothing" (Portrait of Girl with Comic Book). I don't find any particular religious tone to the book as a whole, which another review points out, although God, the Devil, Saint Jerome and Noah all get mentions, among others. So do Lucille Ball and Groucho Marx. Mostly, McGinley's light-hearted and a little irreverent ("Praise what conforms and what is odd, Remembering, if the weather worsens, Along the way, that even God Is said to be three separate Persons" from In Praise of Diversity). Some of the rhyming seems forced, but once I got out of the habit of reading FOR the rhyme, the poems seemed to flow more like stories.

I am not a big fan of poetry, but this collection is exceptional, full of wit and insight. Please note that the subjects of the poems are religious in nature (Christian).