Source: Poems

A fierce and radiant inquiry into mortality, desire, and the enduring spark of the self within an impermanent world. This bold, wide-ranging collection -- his sixth book of poems -- demonstrates the unmistakable lyricism, fierce observation, and force of feeling that have made Mark Doty's poems special to readers on both sides of the Atlantic. Doty turns a fierce, attentive eye upon the stubborn facts of embodiment, finding in sweat-stained gym vinyl or a taxidermist's preserved parrot the enduring will to resist erasure. Across coastal piers and centuries-old floorboards, the collection measures the heavy pull of mortality against an insatiable appetite for light. The poems in Source deepen Doty's exploration of the paradox of selfhood. They offer a complex, boldly colored self-portrait; their muscular lines argue fiercely with the fact of limit; they pulse with the drama of perception and the quest to forge meaning. Nature Poetry: From three horses wading in a sunlit May pasture to a hermit crab claiming a soda can on a Key West sidewalk, Doty captures the startling, vulnerable vitality of the physical world. Love Poems: Whether chronicling a lover's fresh tattoo or an ordinary morning raking leaves beside an apricot tree in bloom, these verses record the durable anchors of partnership. Raw Honesty: Doty confronts the devastating grief of the AIDS epidemic, recalling a 1992 winter benefit where a drag performer sang Kurt Weill while snow gathered against the windows. Also by This Author: Fire to Fire, Atlantis and Sweet Machine.…