About the book

Remember when reading poetry was fun? Back before things got all Complicated and Serious and Self-Importantly-Capitalized? There was a time when you—yes, you!—liked poetry almost as much as you liked board games or recess or root beer floats.

What the heck happened? Well, if you’re anything like us, school happened. Poetry got tangled up in book reports and Advanced Placement Exams, and we got all sidelined into worrying about the difference between metaphor and simile. In all the confusion, poetry stopped being funny. (Sure, there was that time everyone in class laughed at you for pronouncing “synecdoche” the wrong way, but that’s not the same thing at all.)

Boys at Play is for those of you who kept the faith. It’s a book of poetry. Fun poetry. This book is like recess for English majors. Limericks, sonnets, riddles, wordplay, literary comics, even a couple of show tunes. For a finale, Emperor Nero makes a guest appearance and sets the place on fire. How’s that for exciting?

While Boys at Play celebrates the playful, impish tone of the poetry books you enjoyed as a child, this isn’t a book of children's poetry. Nor is it amateur hour. There’s a decidedly adult sensibility at play in these pages. This is a root-beer float, yes, but the mug is Waterford crystal. This is unadulterated joy held together by refined craftsmanship. We’re pretty good at this stuff. You’ll be in good hands.

Written in the tradition of Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Hilaire Belloc, W.S. Gilbert, and Edward Lear, Boys at Play proves that light verse remains a perfectly respectable career path for words and phrases who shudder at the thought of working in an investment prospectus.