"The 20th-century giants—Yeats, Rilke and Neruda, who served as touchstones in How to Read a Poem—appear alongside such contemporary Americans as Robert Bly, Denise Levertov, Gary Snyder and Dorothea Tanning, and newcomers from Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and Asia.... Taking over the column early in 2002, Hirsch writes, he felt the burden of discussing poetry in the cultural climate of post-9/11 America. Old themes of grief and loss gain new weight as Hirsch discusses Wallace Stevens's and Mark Strand's approaches and Tom Sleigh's oblique refashioning of Greek and Sumerian verse in 'New York American Spell, 2001.' Eclectic and idiosyncratic, Hirsch's choices are unified by astute excerpting and keen commentary."—Publishers Weekly