Can poetry be hilarious? Bonnie Garmus' 'Lessons in Chemistry' follow-up proves it

(Los Angeles Times illustration; book jacket from Scribner) From a young age, "Peck & Peck" protagonist and narrator Batter Gray is obsessed with poetry, an infatuation that doesn't disturb his parents until he reveals that he plans to pursue a career in the field. "There isn't a parent alive who wants their kid to grow up and be a poet," Batter reflects. But by the time he enters high school, he's already gone from "reading A.A. Milne to Bukowski ," and by 17, he's pondering Sonnet #2 by Ted Berrigan , in awe of how Berrigan "subverted the form." Now his parents are "worried in earnest." His teachers remind him that nearly all the great poets had second jobs: "Robert Frost worked as a cobbler," advises Mrs. Barksdale. "Walt Whitman was a clerk." Batter remains undeterred.