A central figure in contemporary poetry presents a curated selection of his work spanning two decades. Alfred Corn's poems, drawn from six previous collections, offer wide-ranging explorations of experience and language. He skillfully employs narrative, figurative, and metrical resources to address contemporary issues, autobiographical themes, and observations of both the extraordinary and the everyday. His work is characterized by its musicality, meditative quality, passion, and directness, reflecting on subjects from the comic to the classical.

This collection is presented as an indispensable record of Alfred Corn's explorations over a twenty-year period, highlighting his position as a central figure in contemporary poetry. The author's skill in drawing on diverse poetic resources to address modern concerns and personal themes is noted. The poems are described as musical, meditative, passionate, and direct, covering a broad spectrum of subjects. The selection itself, curated by Corn, emphasizes the coherence and depth of his work across multiple previous volumes.