A distillation of the 30-plus years Skinner has dedicated to writing poems that have delighted and provoked readers around the world. This book includes essential work from six published volumes, beginning with his debut collection, Late Stars, from Wesleyan University Press in 1985. Since then Skinner's work has gathered many prizes and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, two fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and individual artist grants from the Howard and Ingram Merrill Foundations.