Inseminating the Elephant.(Brief article)(Book review)

The opening pages of this exceptional volume, with an epigraph from Chekhov ("Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out") and acknowledgment of the doctors who care for the author (she writes frankly about being wheelchair-bound, owing to multiple sclerosis), might suggest something sentimental. In fact, these poems are tough and witty; Perillo's time as a wildlife researcher gives her insight into the workings ...