Modern Art An Exhibition in Criticism

The verses of Modern Art: An Exhibition in Criticism, a book of poems by Michael Curtis, are intended to be employed like a rusty-nailed fencepost by which you may beat pretentious Modernists about the head, repeatedly. The author leaves out no cheap trick of meter or of rhyme to achieve his ends. He employs adolescent sing-song, doggerel, slanting rhyme--in short, every mischief-making device he can borrow or invent is used in a manner that would shame lesser poets. Yes, he stoops to conquer. Indeed, conquest is his aim; his tactic, wit; his weapons, mudslinging, ridicule, name-calling, and other dirty tricks of antique pedigree.