Love Letters (hb)

A collection of love poems spoken in the distinct voice of a sibling, schoolmate, student, playmate, secret admirer, and even the self. First-person narrators find expression in short, unrhymed verses that sensitively reveal their innermost thoughts and hidden yearnings. A student who signs his poem ``First Seat First Row'' is the awkward, bumbling admirer of ``Ms. Back Row''; a quiet-as-a- mouse pupil admires a teacher; a grandson finds himself full of love for a grandmother; even ``when all your [cookie] jars are empty.'' Every poem is an imagined, would-be valentine, full of hope, that satisfies readers when it finds its way to the intended, and breaks their hearts when it is rejected or rebuffed.