Paul Muldoon is a lover of language and its many forms, interpretations, and interminglings. In QUOOF, he explores animal sounds-as-language, punctuation, cultural word-use variations, and differences in English, from his native Northern Ireland and the United States. The titular poem refers to a private, family term for a hot water bottle, and the poet writes about taking the word into strange beds, not just as a literal object of warmth, but as a symbol of connection through communication. The word links him to his past, and to the future. In every poem, he takes language and symbolism to extremes, making fun and folly of it while still expressing the light and dark of human experience. QUOOF is a brilliant, playful, and at times absurd collection that adores and challenges language and our expression and understanding of it. ( )