Philadelphia Prism:  Our gifted fellow townsman, Mr. Dove Dulcet, has once more demonstrated his ability to set humble themes in entrancing measures.  He calls his book Peanut Butter.  A title chosen with rare discernment, for the little volume has all the savor and nourishing properties of that palatable delicacy.  We wish there were space to quote “On Losing a Latchkey,” for it expresses a common human experience in language of haunting melody and witty brevity.  How rare it is to find a poet with such metrical skill who is content to handle the minor themes of life in this mood of delicious pleasantry.  The only failure in the book is the banal sonnet entitled “On Raiding the Ice Box.”  This we would be content to forego.

Pittsburgh Cylinder:  It is a relief to meet one poet who deals with really exalted themes.  We are profoundly weary of the myriad versifiers who strum the so-called lowly and domestic themes.  Mr. Dulcet, however, in his superb free verse, has scaled olympian heights, disdaining the customary twaddling topics of the rhymesters.  Such an amazing allegory as “On Raiding the Ice Box,” which deals, of course, with the experience of a man who attempts to explore the mind of an elderly Boston spinster, marks this powerful poet as a man of unusual satirical and philosophical depth.

Boston Penseroso:  We find Mr. Dove Dulcet’s new book rather baffling.  We take his poem “On Raiding the Ice Box” to be a paean in honor of the discovery of the North Pole; but such a poem as “On Losing a Latchkey,” is quite inscrutable.  Our guess is that it is an intricate psycho-analysis of a pathological case of amnesia.  Our own taste is more for the verse that deals with the gentler emotions of every day, but there can be no doubt that Mr. Dulcet is an artist to be reckoned with.

A MARRIAGE SERVICE FOR COMMUTERS

(Fill in railroad as required)

[Illustration]

Wilt thou, Jack, have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together in so far as the ——­ Railroad will allow?  Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, take her to the movies, prevent the furnace from going out, and come home regularly on the 5:42 train?”

“I will.”

“Wilt thou, Jill, have this commuter to thy wedded husband, bearing in mind snowdrifts, washouts, lack of servants and all other penalties of suburban life?  Wilt thou obey him and serve him, love, honor and keep him, and let him smoke a corncob pipe in the house?”

“I will.”

“I, Jack, take thee, Jill, to my wedded wife, from 6 P.M. until 8 A.M., as far as permitted by the ——­ Railroad, schedule subject to change without notice, for better, for worse, for later, for earlier, to love and to cherish, and I promise to telephone you when I miss the train.”

“I, Jill, take thee, Jack, to my wedded husband, subject to the mutability of the suburban service, changing trains at——­, to have and to hold, save when the card club meets on Wednesday evenings, and thereto I give thee my troth.”