As the title suggests, POETRAITS contains poetic ruminations about the people whom poet Rosé finds himself ruminating. The categories range from the rich and famous (or infamous) such as Frank Sinatra, Janet Reno, and saxophonist Steve Lacy, to the unknown (at least to the reader) to categories of persons, such as “Wonderful Women,” “Bikers,” etc. There are also poems about particular events (“Thanksgiving ’95,” “Thanksgiving ’92,”) and a few “things” (such as a cigarette). Rosé’s poems are high spirited and very funny. In a self portrait entitled “Personal Column,” for instance, he describes some of the wild responses the narrator (presumably Rosé) receives after placing the following in a classified ad: “Poet, cranky and demanding/ Seeks infinite understanding.” Some verses are plain silly, such as in “Dipsy Doodle” when the narrator complains about the inferior thinking of the poem’s object of intention: “Because your brain’s so daffy/ A kind of mental taffy/ I think there is nothing we can do/ So I’m calling for the van/ Just as quickly as I can/ Because this is a case of missing screw.’ POETRAITS is a must for anyone who occasionally sinks into a dark mood. Rosé’s peppy rhymed verses will zip you off to a height from which all life takes on a much more frivolous appearance.
