In her haunting fourth collection, National Poetry Series winner Joan
Murray takes the challenge of performing poetry's original and still
necessary tasks in the uncertain landscape of a new millennium.
Widely praised for the exceptional humanity and technical virtuosity of
her earlier collections, Murray now explores the daily struggles of life
and death in the natural world, the hidden pleasures and ironies of life
in small-town America, the vulnerable underside of artistic communities,
and the myriad complexities that pervade our dreams and relationships in
this new century. With wit, generosity, and unflinching honesty, Murray
gives us poems that mourn and praise, illuminate and challenge.