Editor's Corner

Laugh at the End of the World: Collected Comic Poems 1969-1999 by Bill Knott

Bill Knott, Laugh at the End of the World: Collected Comic Poems 1969- 1999: Knott’s tenth volume gathers three decades of virtuoso poems, showcasing his iconoclastic wit, his unique view of the world, and his fiercely original language, proving Marvin Bell was right when he said that Knott can “twist the neck of syntax until…

A Region Not Home: Reflections from Exile by James Alan McPherson

James Alan McPherson, A Region Not Home: Reflections from Exile, essays: With topics ranging from racism in the South to Disneyland, McPherson provocatively probes the geography of a morally bankrupt society, as he yearns for “spiritual civility.” Often magical and transcendent, all of these essays are heartfelt and resonant. (Simon & Schuster)

Jersey Rain by Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky, Jersey Rain, poems: Marking a fresh, lyrical direction in Pinsky’s work, this volume is a luminous, fugue-like meditation on the themes of a life guided by Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, the brilliant messenger and trickster of heaven. (FSG)

Jackstraws by Charles Simic

Charles Simic, Jackstraws, poems: This collection of new poems paints exquisite and shattering word pictures that lend meaning to a chaotic world, uniting the solemn with the absurd. Simic continues to startle with images of the ethereal, fantastic visions of the everyday, and moments full of humor and heartache. (FSG)

Last Blue by Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern, Last Blue, poems: A statement from Stern himself illuminates the focus of his outstanding twelfth collection: “Light vs. darkness has always been one of my themes, but now more than ever. Not only is this the root-and metaphor-for all the major religions, but the almost biological frame of reference for humans. With me,…

Tiepolo’s Hound by Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott, Tiepolo’s Hound, poems: Published with twenty-five full-color reproductions of Walcott’s own paintings, Tiepolo’s Hound is a stunning book-length poem that is at once the spiritual biography of Camille Pissarro, a history in verse of Impressionist painting, and a memoir of Walcott’s desire to catch the visual world in more than words. (FSG)