Jack Rabbit's High Desert Poetry by Donald W. Chance is a "free verse poetry chapbook" comprising of 32 poems, some narrative and some lyrical. The poems, I believe, were inspired by an insightful observation of life's activities and realities by the poet, and they cut across an extensive range of topics. One of my favorites from this collection, Never Enough, depicted life's never-ending expectations and demands. Another poem, Night Freight at Nine, was about the poet's nighttime terror of the scary things under the bed. He reasons that they must be blind or don't know how to climb the sides of the bed; finally, sleep comes to his rescue.
Each poem takes up just about half a page, which makes the book a quick read. However, reading through this book quickly will not yield maximum satisfaction, as comprehension of some poems may not dawn after just the first read, given the composition of the poems. The lines were clothed in figurative language, the verses were written as run-on lines—with no punctuations or regular line breaks—and the poem had no rhyme scheme or metering. These complexities, however, added some flavor to the work. The themes varied from poem to poem, as did the tone and mood. Every poem, from the most serious to the most frivolous, evoked an emotion; some poems were outrightly just funny.
Given the literary structure and composition of the poems, I had to read each poem at least twice for proper comprehension and appreciation. And I initially didn't enjoy this process. With each rereading, however, I appreciated the poems better, and that gave me better satisfaction. Soon, I didn't mind rereading, and I then enjoyed the book. I thus say that poetry is to be savored, not rushed. I liked that a wide range of topics was featured in the poems, and I liked the poems in their unique differences. Jack Rabbit's High Desert Poetry was a good read, and in the absence of any errors, which tells well of the book's editing, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.
Like I already mentioned, I didn't get the meaning of most poems on the first read, and that was the only thing I disliked about this book. I, however, found the solution to that problem. However, there were still a couple of poems I didn't understand, even up till the time of writing this review. On a recommendatory note, an audio format of this book would be helpful; it would guide the reader on the flow of each poem and make the book more enjoyable. Any other grammatical irregularity I noticed in this work can be justified by poetic license.
My recommendation of this book is surmised by a verse in the book:
If sophistry is your game
you have stumbled correctly
finding the right place.
Nevertheless, I think anybody can enjoy this book. It is a book for free thinkers.
******
Jack Rabbit's High Desert Poetry
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
. Lovely review!
. Jack Rabbit thinks really deep. 
