Woman and a Man, Ice-fishing

LEE RUDOLPH was a founding member of the Alice James Poetry Cooperative, which published his first two books of poetry, Curses (1974) and The Country Changes (1978). He is also the author of Calculus of Elementary Functions (1969) and many research papers on ""low-dimensional topology,"" the field of mathematics in which he has earned most of his living since 1974. He lives in southeastern Massachusetts.

Lee Rudolph is among the least boring poets I know. His bold, inventive work keeps handing us fresh surprises, from the surreal hilarity of the title poem to the moving 'Little Prayers.' Master of many instruments, Rudolph can deliver fat-free free verse as well as song lyrics ('Lullaby'), experimental forms ('Escape Reading,' 'Scraps from the Dream Newspaper'), and tightly rhymed lyrics ('Beauty,' 'Weather Report'). You never know what to expect from him, except that each poem will be powerful, arresting, and original. -X. J. Kennedy ""I love these strange, witty, passionate poems, so rare in their range of far and near, here and there, light and dark. 'A singing lamp,' 'lamp skull.'""-Jean Valentine