Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems

At last, a definitive selection of the elegant work by a poet at the forefront of American poetry for more than three decades.

With his first several books, J. D. McClatchy established himself as a poet of urbanity, intellect, and prismatic emotion, in the tradition of James Merrill, W. H. Auden, and Elizabeth Bishop–one who balances an exploration of the underworld of desire with a mastery of poetic form, and whose artistry reveals the riches and ruins of our plundered hearts. Now, opening with exquisite new poems–including the stunning My Hand Collection, a catalogue of art objects that steals up on the complexity of human touch, and a witty and profound poem entitled My Robotic Prostatectomy –this selection is a glorious full tour of McClatchy’s career. It includes excerpts from the powerful book-length sequence Ten Commandments (1998) and his more recent works Hazmat (2002) and Mercury Dressing (2009)-books that explored the body’s melodrama, as well as the heart’s treacheries, grievances, and boundless capacities. All of his poems present a sumptuous weave of impassioned thought and clear-sighted feeling. He has been rightly hailed as a poet of ferocious alertness, one who elicits (says The New Leader) the kind of wonder and joy we experience when the curtain comes down on a dazzling performance.