Animals in English

Poetry. 'Cows saved me. Hilary Sideris writes in ANIMALS IN ENGLISH. 'One summer in high / school I saw a herd / go through the chute / to get their shots.' It's sound that drives these persona poems, her new book in the voice of Temple Grandin, a spokesperson for both animal rights and autism, making us aware, for example, of flip-over disease, where chickens are bred to be so fat, their food mixed with painkillers, they fall over and die. Sideris' work in this collection as always, is spare and elegant. There are several poems which refer to her squeeze machine, the parallels between slaughter chutes and the calming machine useful for those on the spectrum. One can't help but consider the irony of using words to attempt to express the thoughts of someone who struggled to communicate verbally, but Sideris handles the challenge skillfully. These are poems about animals, often with reference to human cruelty and misperception--horses, cows, pigs, and others--as with Hans the Horse, better at reading his trainer than understanding math. They are also poems about coming of age, the construction of the brain, and from the pen of this very special poet, the struggles of a very special public figure.--Susana H. Case