Poetry of Todd Boss lyrical, memorable

YELLOWROCKET. By Todd Boss. Norton. 121 pages. $23.95.

There is much buzz on the American poetry scene about Todd Boss, who has managed the poet's rare feat of landing a first-book hardcover contract. Yet for some time, Boss has been garnering approval from Poetry magazine, The New Yorker and several of the country's most elite literary journals. The rising success of this poet is well-deserved.

The title "Yellowrocket" comes from a common weed, appropriate enough for a collection that opens with a succession of poems about a hardscrabble childhood on a Wisconsin farm: "Had holes been coins,/our gloves and boots would have jangled." Family, marriage, the natural world, daily living — all are treated as the heart's weather, and none comes without storm. The marriage poems, in particular, show a fraught relationship rocked by passion. Throughout the book, storms recur as both phenomena and theme.

To read a Boss poem is like watching a figure skater. What's before you is lyrical and efficient, every move deserving attention, looking deceptively easy. Many of the poems are narrative, accessible but probing. All are well-crafted; the best are full of surprise. "She Rings Me Up" is funny enough to be worth the cost of the book.

But most notable about Boss' poetry is sound: His use of rhymes, rhythms and other repetition is not just gratifying to the ear; it's remarkable and memorable.