"A previously unpublished novel by a literary master, Skylight tells the intertwined stories of the residents of a faded apartment building in 1940s Lisbon. Silvestre and Mariana, a happily married elderly couple, take in a young nomad, Abel, and soon discover their many differences. Adriana loves Beethoven more than any man, but her budding sexuality brings new feelings to the surface. Carmen left Galicia to marry humble Emilio, but hates Lisbon...

Finalist for ForeWord Magazine's 1999 Poetry Book of the YearA reader and a writer don their respective roles and embark on the journey of a book. This is their story-ultimately a love story-darkly funny, mournful, testy. It is about a reader who at times presides over the page like a god, and at others follows the leash of the author's voice through the dark streets of the book like a dog, and it is about a writer of determined slipperiness. As we...

"A writer begins keeping a notebook of handwriting exercises hoping that, if he is able to improve his penmanship, his character will improve too. What begins as a mere physical exercise is filled involuntarily with reflections and anecdotes about living, writing, and the sense--or nonsense--of existence"-- Provided by publisher.

Bob Hicok's poems are often edgy, brazen, and funny. They're just as likely to be soulful, reflective, and provocative. Usually at the same time. As Hicok builds toward the punchline of a poem set up with his characteristic wit, he zigs into seriousness. A thoughtful meditation that builds to a moment of epiphany zags into comedy. Hicok's fluid ability to shift moods, the richness of his visual palette, and his idiosyncratic use of language fill the...

"The 14 stories of The Dogs of Detroit each focus on grief and its many strange permutations. This grief alternately devolves into violence, silence, solitude, and utter isolation. In some cases, grief drives the stories as a strong, reactionary force, and yet in other stories, that grief evolves quietly over long stretches of time. Many of the stories also use grief as a prism to explore the beguiling bonds within families. The stories span a variety...

From "Projection Box": Light is not light. Light is only one way things radiate, so light is an object falling apart. The light of the moon is the light of the sun which is the sun collapsing. Raymond McDaniel is the author of Special Powers and Abilities, Saltwater Empire, and Murder (a violet), a National Poetry Series selection.

In his fifth collection of poems, Christopher Kennedy sifts through the detritus of the past to uncover the memories, images, and symbols that shape an individual's consciousness. Looking to animals and their instincts for inspiration, drawing shape from the poet's Irish Catholic working-class roots, these prose poems transcend grief and depression by seeking humanity's place in the natural world.

Dean Young is one of the premier surrealist poets writing today. In Skid, his fifth book of poems, social outrage vies with comic excess. He embraces the autobiographical urge with fury and musically lush exclamations. Whether through the dark facts of mortality or the celebratory surprises of the imagination, these poems proclaim vitality and alertness, wasting nothing. From Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner's "Meep! Meep!" to remembrances of lost...

A searing interrogation of identity, masculinity, and contemporary culture, Post Traumatic Hood Disorder's references range from Icarus to Sir Mix-A-Lot as the speaker assembles a bricolage self-portrait from the fractures of his past. Sliding between scholarly diction and slangy vernacular, Martinez's poems showcase a versatility of language and a wild-hearted poetic energy that is thoughtful, vulnerable, and distinctly American.

Equi's poems are under the breath asides from your cleverest friend-witty, thoughtful, and wry. SLIGHT: A slight implies, if not an insult(real or imagined), at least something unpleasant --a slight cold, a slight headache. No one ever says :"You make me slightly happy." Although this, in fact, is often the case. Widely published and anthologized, Elaine Equi's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Nation, and numerous...