Lunchboxes

, by Dan Veach, preserves in the amber of poetry a classic 1950s Southern California childhood, complete with Superman capes, coonskin caps, cap pistols, and lunchboxes which, like this book, contain both baloney and Wonder bread. Deep background comes from the backwoods of Tennessee, where Grandpa makes a Nobel Prize discovery, and the kids get a snootfull of Aunt Ruth’s snuff. Going farther back still, “A Date with Clio,” the muse of history, breezes through a million years of human misadventures. Baloney is sandwiched in the “Scherzo” section—the movement Beethoven reserved for musical jokes. And finally, for those who missed out on Dan’s previous book, this lunchbox contains a cool thermos of .