"Something Back" goes a long way toward capturing the wryness in Michael Lally"s poetic tone: "I never had a backache before / I started working out, / now I"m like all those other / jock Adonises, pretending to be / the healthiest man you"ve ever / scanned when it"s all a sham . . . ." Self-consciousness, awareness of absurdity, and underlying fear (of aging, in this case) mark a great deal of these poems, whether they"re about relationships, religion, or some other important folly. Lally is an insightful, entertaining writer.