Poetry. Jerome Sala's cheeky, splashy poetry seems never to be in a bad mood: he sails through profound political and historical issues with a tone of insouciance that--like an erudite carnival- barker's--successfully lures us into the tent. Indeed, THE CHEAPSKATES has a Cecil B. DeMille fullness, each of its sideshows masterfully spacious within close quarters. I hear in Sala's voice the lovable sound of a storyteller- trickster who wants to beguile listeners into a reverie with no strings attached.--Wayne Koestenbaum