1987, 5.5x8.5, 191 pp., paper, $12.50, ISBN: 0-940168-11-1

AN expert on Marine algae at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Ralph Lewin combines his irreverent sense of humor with his knowledge of everything from plants and animals to religion and politics in this delightful collection of verse.

"The biology of algae is a duty, or a task That consumes the better portion of your time In the sampling of waters from an ocean, or a flask, Or a snow-field, or a gutter-full of slime.

"You get cold, and wet, and grubby; you get dusty, hot, and dry; You get dismal, and dejected, and defied; But you'll find that, if you're lucky - if you're good - and if you try, You can do a little science on the side."

"Lewin's poetry's made up of botany...and indecency in about equal proportions." --James Brauch Cabell