Plundered Hearts - New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

At last-a definitive selection of the elegant work by a poet at the forefront of American poetry for more than three decades.
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, 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." 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 Prostatectomy"-this selection is a glorious full tour of McClatchy's career. It includes excerpts from the powerful book-length sequence "Ten Commandments" (1998) and his more recent works "Hazmat"(2002) and "Mercury Dressing" (2009), for which he has been hailed as a poet of "ferocious alertness," one who elicits (says "The New Leader") "the kind of wonder and joy we experience when the curtain comes down on a dazzling performance."