The Book of Poetry for Hard Times cd How could the world’s most

How could the world’s most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter who wouldn’t even deign to attend the medal ceremony

and Beyoncé

The extraordinary people who passed through their lives are also pictured: Sam Shepard

and even politics

Extensive critical notes by editors Seán Lawlor and John Pilling detail the circumstances of their composition

The Book of Poetry for Hard Times cd How could the world’s mostRobert Pinsky, our finest living example of [the American civic poet] ( New York Times ), gathers poems that cope with the most extreme human emotions. Despair, mania, rage, guilt, derangement, poetry is our most intimate source for the urgent, varied experience of human emotion. Poems get under our skin; they offer solace with the balm, and the sting, of understanding. In The Book of Poetry for Hard Times , former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky curates