THE COMMANDRINE AND OTHER POEMS

A "commandrine" is the female captain of a ship, and in the long verse play that gives this sophomore book its title, our leader attempts to guide four unruly sailors who frequently converse with the devil. "Shall I exercise my command?" asks the commandrine, making it clear that this poem, and the rest of this nervy collection, has that most fundamental question of art making at stake: What constitutes the authority of the artist? McSweeney offers no real answer to this ancient unanswerable ("Don't you know/ the riddle?" asks the poet. "I am the world I cannot see "), but raises the question in a manner as convincing as it is playful. And as in life, art making blends with other forms of union and reproduction (the first poem ends with the line, "Ent'ring our marriage ride"; the last is titled "The Born Fetus"), and with renewal: "Toothbrush into a yogurt cup, Recyclamente! I am so/ adamant. The siren with a catch in its cry starts over." (Mar.)