Review by Booklist Review
Farce frames pathos in Bricuth's book-length poem about the last-ditch effort to save the Fishes' marriage. In the judge's chambers, he and counsel await Mrs. Fish. The judge asks Mr. Fish's lawyer, Fox, to get those people in the hall to pipe down. While Fox is away, Bird, Mrs. Fish's lawyer, tells raunchy stories. After returning and explaining the ruckus--Mrs. Fish's sister, Gert, assaulted Fish and Fox and needed three bailiffs to be subdued--Fox joins in! Mrs. Fish arrives, and each spouse tells how they came to this pass, steering straight through miscarriage and infidelity but yawing toward divorce upon their son's death. Their stories heard, the judge dismisses them and calls in Gert, and the whole thing ends in a brawl capped by an outrageous last line. Writing in loosely pentametric tercets, with lots of alliteration and internal rhyme to keep things rollicking during the scabrous opening and closing, and rolling through the Fishes' testimonies, Bricuth's magnetically readable long song crackles with cynical laughter and pulses with all-too-human sadness. --Ray Olson Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
