ISBN: 080416875X 9780804168755

Category: Poetry / American / General

Page count: 288

<b>A definitive selection of the elegant work by a poet at the forefront of American poetry for more than three decades.</b><br><br>With his first several books, J. D. McClatchy established himself as a poet of urbanity, intellect, and prismatic emotion, in the tradition of James Merrill, W. H. Auden, and Elizabeth Bishop––one who balances an exploration of the underworld of desire with a mastery of poetic form, and whose artistry reveals the riches and ruins of our “plundered hearts.” <br><br>Now, opening with exquisite new poems––including the stunning “My Hand Collection,” a catalogue of art objects that steals up on the complexity of human touch, and a witty and profound poem entitled “My Robotic Prostatectomy”––this selection is a glorious full tour of McClatchy’s career. It includes excerpts from the powerful book-length sequence <i>Ten Commandments</i> (1998) and his more recent works <i>Hazmat</i> (2002) and <i>Mercury Dressing</i> (2009)—books that explored the body’s melodrama, as well as the heart’s treacheries, grievances, and boundless capacities. <br><br>All of his poems present a sumptuous weave of impassioned thought and clear-sighted feeling. He has been rightly hailed as a poet of “ferocious alertness,” one who elicits (says <i>The New Leader</i>) “the kind of wonder and joy we experience when the curtain comes down on a dazzling performance.”