Wild Gratitude

In Wild Gratitude, Edward Hirsch unfurls a kaleidoscope of inventive poems that honor other artists and writers, confront urban life and embrace East European fugitives, as well as eulogizing his grandparents and recollecting his youth. At their very best the poems in this collection, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, somehow merge these subjects, as is the case in "Three Journeys," which draws parallels between a bag lady's troubles and those of an artist. In all, the book offers readers a sweeping accumulation of work by a talented poet deserving of greater attention.