At once erudite and plainspoken, imaginative and grounded in the grittily lunatic fundamentals of the human heart, here is the author's definitive selection of his verse: the writings of an underground poet who lasted. These poems describe a universe that is as populous and diverse as it is ephemeral and evanescent. Born of the world and of books and art in equal measure, they tell of the unyielding granite truths of people's roller-coaster lives. And there's always a poet looking back, facing life and death and everything inbetween...