An exhilarating new collection by the poet often applauded as the modern Walt Whitman. For over two decades, the Library Journal has said, no one has equaled Gerald Stern's compassionate, surreal parables about the burden of and the exaltation of being alive. The poems in this substantial volume, the majority of which are no longer available in other editions, have been selected from seven previous collections (1972-1995). Along with favorite poems redeemed, Stern offers a generous array of new poems, including moving tributes to Larry Levis, Eggshell, and Allen Ginsberg, Lilacs for Ginsberg.