The Art of Description

A book-length essay on the art of saying what you see, a forthcoming volume in Graywolf's new series of "The Art of..." books, each authored by a different writer, each examining an aspect of the writer's craft.  

A New Book in the Graywolf Poetry Re/View Series

This series of books restores all-but-lost volumes of contemporary poetry to print. Mark Doty is the series editor, and each book is introduced by a contemporary poet who cares passionately about the work at hand. The first volume in the series, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LYNDA HULL, appeared in 2006, with an introduction by Yusef Komunyakaa.  The second, Thomas James' cult masterpiece, LETTERS TO A STRANGER, was out of print for nearly thirty years before appearing in the series with eleven uncollected poems and a gripping introduction by Lucie Brock-Broido. Up next: James L. White's magnificent 1982 collection, THE SALT ECSTASIES.

A still-untitled collection of essays on writing, reading and the writing life 

A dozen years (and growing) worth of essays: grief and the uses of art, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, May Swenson, memoir and betrayal, the streets of Houston, Key West, Provincetown, Walt Whitman, the Reverend Fred Phelps, Dante, Wallace Stevens, Lucien Freud... 

New Job!

In September of 2009, I joined the faculty at Rutgers University in New Brunwick, New Jersey, where I've felt very much welcomed.