by Eugene W. Fuller 'it, Seymour: Chicago, 1951, 43 pp., $2.00.
Spindrift is defined as "spray blown from waves during a gale at sea," and Mr. Fuller, a modest man, has chosen his title well, though I might call the gale in this case a spanking breeze. None of his verse is pretentious, and much of it is studded with bright and gay words shining in the sunlight.
A number of the poems have appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
A total of twenty-eight poems compose the book, with titles as diverse as the "Incomparable Max," "Midnight Ferry" and "Mr. Eliot's Audience," with a sonnet on "The Big Telescope" at Palomar.
Mr. Fuller has the instincts of a poet but is not always able to clothe his thoughts in poetic imagery of a high order. He thinks poetically but his choice of language is not always felicitous. I do not like wars rhyming with scars, or flesh with crash. He has, however, what many versifiers lack, a light touch and a sense of humor. On the whole his volume, both in subject matter and in format, is a pleasing one, and I enjoyed reading it. Mr. Fuller is to be congratulated, and I hope in time to come we will have another volume from his pen.