Dubie writes poems that are free verse but with a formal ear, using ghost meter and ghost rhyme to write often of metaphorical ghosts. So many of his poems are historical character portraits steeped dark and strong in mystery and surreal violence or tenderness. He is singular, as far as I can tell, in what he has done and is doing in terms of the American poetic landscape. Absolutely enthralling, sometimes unnerving, always with an eye to unexpected beauty.

That said, the title of the book is misleading. It is a new and selected poems, rather than collected. The poems are not arranged chronologically and the reader has no idea what book each is taken from. That's a very minor grievance though. If you only get one Dubie book, get this. Reading this, though, made me want to get all of the individual collections. ( )