RED DOG/BLUE FLY

Beginning with the title poem about a game in progress, a cycle that considers football's anxieties and satisfactions with entries on the ball, the coach, a touchdown, ``Ebonee'' (a girl who's a running back), etc., plus longer pieces on an injury and on the mixed feelings engendered by playing against a cousin; the season's-end trophy is celebrated with a feast of ``Curried goat and rabbit stew/fried fish chicken too/kale and mustard and collard greens/homemade ice cream and jelly beans.'' Not unusually compelling but nicely evocative, especially with Gilchrist's colorful art—in which lively action, sweeping across broad spreads, alternates with more intimate close-ups of the participants. (Poetry/Picture book. 6-11)*justify no*