From the extraordinary diversity of contemporary poetry, Peter Stitt, the distinguished critic and editor of the Gettysburg Review, has chosen in this book to write about five poets only, all premier practitioners—John Ashbery, Stephen Dobyns, Charles Simic, Gerald Stern, and Charles Wright, with a special look at Stanley Kunitz in relation to Wright. Stitt's confident and inventive assessments of these fine poets' work help us gain some focus on the “uncertainty and plenitude” of the current poetry scene, demonstrating that concentrated and knowledgeable criticism can show us ways to begin measuring the accomplishments of our poetic age. Stitt's interest in these five poets is intellectual and aesthetic. As he states, “I chose these particular writers because their work continues to interest me deeply, both intellectually and formally, even after years of familiarity.” He uses his understanding of the philosophical implications inherent in modern physics, as they apply to both content and form, as the basis for his close analysis. Stitt attends to the poets' writerly strategies so that we may discover in their poetry where “surface form” intersects and complements meaning and thus becomes, in John Berryman's terms, “deep form.” He explains what these poets say and how they say it and what relationships lie between. He also shows how humor plays a part in some of their work.

*This is the first book in a duet. The second book is The Lies That Shatter, available now. Where do you run when everything has been stripped away? Mercedes After making the biggest mistake of her life, Mercedes Elliott thought moving halfway across the world was the right decision. But six months later, she’s isolated, dependent on a dangerous relationship with her boyfriend, Jason Marsh, and no closer to rebuilding her once promising legal career. Running low on hope, Mercedes secretly reaches out to the one man she never thought she’d see again. Alec Alec McKinley always regretted letting Mercedes slip through his fingers. So when she invites him for coffee, he jumps at the chance to see her. Mercedes is just as beautiful as he remembered, only he can't help but notice the pain lingering in her eyes. The Truth After Mercedes' relationship comes to a violent head, she finds herself unable to escape her boyfriend's grasp. That is, until Alec makes an unexpected offer that could be her saving grace. But accepting that offer comes at a cost. Being near Alec ignites a flame Mercedes thought had burned out long ago. And when they realize Jason is not the man they thought he was, she and Alec uncover a stunning truth that will change everything between them. Will they let the past ruin them for a second time, or give in to the truth they’ve been keeping secret?

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry “One of the truly imaginative writers of our time.” —Los Angles Times Book Review You never know what Charles Simic is up to until you reach the end of the line or the bottom of the paragraph. Waiting for you might be a kiss. Or a bludgeon. A smile at the absurdities of society, or a wistful, grim memory of World War II. He puns, pulls pranks. He can be jazzy and streetwise. Or cloak himself in antiquity. Charles Simic has new eyes, and in these wonderful poems and poems-in-prose he lets us see through them.

Speak Like Singing honors talk-song visions for all relatives and seeks to plumb, if not to reconcile, Native and American poetics, tribal chorus, and solitary vision.

A collection of new and selected essays by the Pulitzer Prize–winner and former Poet Laureate. In addition to being one of America’s most famous and commended poets, Charles Simic is a prolific and talented essayist. The Life of Images brings together his best prose work written over twenty-five years. A blend of the straightforward, the wry, and the hopeful, the essays in The Life of Images explore subjects ranging from literary criticism to philosophy, photography to Simic’s childhood in a war-torn country. Culled from five collections, each work demonstrates the qualities that make Simic’s poetry so brilliant yet accessible. Whether he is revealing the influence of literature on his childhood development, pondering the relationship between food and comfort, or elegizing the pull to return to a homeland that no longer exists, the legendary poet shares his distinctive take on the world and offers an intimate look into his remarkable mind.

The authors of these essays see Muldoon from many different angles - biographical, formal, literary-historical, generic - but are also engaged in directing attention to complex moments of creativity in which an extraordinary amount of originality is concentrated, and on the clarity of which a lot depends.