I've read this and her earlier books. No, they are not formal sonnets. So, if that is the deal breaker step back. Seuss is very much a contemporary poet. I read once where, when asked what she thought is essential to be a poet, she responded "memory." I don't agree with that. I am pretty tired of the autopoliticalsexual poetry so prevalent these days. I understand why it's out there, why it may even be necessary at this time, but it doesn't usually make for great poetry. In the end, it's so self-centered it makes me tired. It's sort of like being trapped by a person with a giant ego and genius gift for gab at a party you didn't want to go to in the first place. Seuss is from that school, but I have to say is better than most. I know she's been influenced by Gerald Stern's American Sonnets, which manages to be drawn from experience without making us look at his fingernails, or genitals, and I think it serves her well. Her best book is The Four-Legged Girl, IMO, although, as said, I'm pretty fried on that type of poetry.
She did win the Pulitizer with Frank, btw.
My half-penny, FWIW
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