A poet like James Tate who depends so much on the modulation of tone--with very few other poetic devices up his sleeve--can fail when the tone is even slightly "off."

"In order to belong the Million Mile
Club one must belong to the Society
to Prevent Intelligent Intercourse.
The spirit is said to escape, especially

in crowds, like a shout in the park."

The wit is just not sharp enough here. Oftentimes it seems like Tate is just not trying very hard. (Surely he could come up with a better simile than "like a shout in the park.") There a boredom, a stoned desultory feeling to many of these poems in Viper Jazz. The tone is always jokey, but the jokes are so flat at times that the joke is on the reader: "The zebras want to visit Chicago: / it is said they have memories but they don't." I'm feeling the absence of modulation, change in tone. I'll have to go back to The Oblivion Ha-Ha to see if it's passed the test of time a little better.

***

I once declined the buy a Claudia Rankine book for very little money because the book had a sans-serif typeface that didn't appeal to me. I returned to the store on another day, picking up the book as one I was going to buy, and then putting it back because I didn't like the book design. How frivolous is that? Now I'm wishing I had bought the book.