"Ron Koertge can elevate the ordinary places of America?-the backyard, the classroom, the mall-?into scenes of mock-epic significance. He can just as easily lower the mythic worlds of Superman, Ozymandias and Cinderella to a level just a few inches above the bathetic. And he does all this with a charming combination of wit and empathy, satire and sweetness." -Billy Collins "I would think a poem entitled Getting Tough with John Ruskin,? ?Ozymandias and Harriet,? or ?Teen Jesus? would be enough to entice any reader. But permit it to be known that Koertge also carries around a lexicon that includes locutions such as ?snazzy,? a word I haven?t heard since my last Canasta game in 1959. We all know who said that poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom, but Koertge might have said it because his poems are delight and wisdom all the way through. They are also very funny, the way the truly serious often is. This is a snazzy book, also a beautiful one, and I strongly urge you to buy it." -?B.H. Fairchild