I love Philip Terry’s poetry which is always inventive in a variety of ways. This short collection from the wonderfully miniature Red Ceilings Press is a peach, basing itself on ‘the chicago,’ a form developed via the Oulipo some time ago. The basic idea is that each short poem is made up of five lines and the final line, a homophonic ‘translation’ of a place name, person, animal etc. generatesthe content of the previous lines and may be guessed by the reader. In each case, here at least, the final line appears at the end in a numbered key (50 lines) so you can choose to refer forward if you wish. It’s a game in effect and combines the idea of the Old English riddle with the more experimental methods developed by the Oulipo. One very positive effect of taking part is that the method generates creativity and ‘a zest…