Editor's Corner

Bill Knott, The Unsubscriber, poems: The poems in Knott’s collection, his first in a decade, are surreal yet vernacular, outrageous yet tender—absolutely unique, iconoclastic, and astonishing. (FSG)

Philip Levine, Breath, poems: Levine, in these heady, extraordinary new poems, looks back at his life to unearth rites of passage in an America of victories and betrayals. (Knopf)

Campbell McGrath, Pax Atomica, poems: With singular verve, McGrath continues ever deeper into the jungle of American culture with poems that are musical, comedic, and impassioned. (Ecco)

Robert Pinsky, An Invitation to Poetry, anthology: Pinsky and co-editor Maggie Dietz’s compelling compilation of poems is accompanied by quotations from Favorite Poem Project participants, along with a DVD. (Norton)

Stratis Haviaras, translation of The Canon, poems by C. P. Cavafy: Haviaras’s marvelous new translations of the one hundred fifty-four poems Cavafy published during his lifetime resonate, as Seamus Heaney says in his introduction, with “the abundance and excitement of . . . restoration.” (Hermes)

Christopher Tilghman, Roads of the Heart, a novel: In Tilghman’s generous and powerful novel, a man and his father—a former Maryland senator—journey on the road and discover the resilient truths of their family. (Random)

Alice Hoffman, Blackbird House, stories: Beautiful and haunting, these twelve interconnected narratives span a dozen lives over the course of two hundred years—all inhabitants of a house on a small farm in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who are transformed by love and passion. (Doubleday)

Richard Tillinghast, Poetry and What Is Real, essays: Sure to be a seminal work, Tillinghast’s engaging book discusses British and American modernists such as Yeats and Auden and neglected masters like John Crowe Ransom. (Michigan)

Fanny Howe, On the Ground, poems: In this bold, yearning new collection, Howe responds to the contrast between American imperialist goals and the realities of life lived “on the ground.” Infused with moving clarity, these poems have unassailable urgency. (Graywolf)