Wild Track New and Selected Poems [Paperback]

The poems of Kevin Hart have nurtured international poetry audiences for nearly four decades. Translations of Hart’s work have appeared in Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Vietnamese, among other languages, and bear witness to the growing interest in Hart’s poetry both in the United States and abroad. This volume performs a valuable service by bringing together the best of Hart’s work from seven published collections, some of them now out of print, and from his forthcoming book,Barefoot.It allows us to take the measure of his art: the careful balance Hart achieves between mystery and the real, a balance that is spiritual yet visceral, learned yet passionate; and his ability to meld redemption and hope, “always present, whether in the simple pleasures and small dignities of life or the larger questionings and confrontations of death” (The Australian).

Wild Trackreveals a poet capable of articulating genuine feeling and considerable philosophical depth. This volume confirms Hart’s standing as one of the most sophisticated poets writing today.

"Pondus meum amor meus—my weight is my love, writes Augustine, as he describes how love carries him wherever it will. The 'wild track' of Kevin Hart's new and selected poems seems akin to Augustine's path; it is a collection deeply pondered, yet as lightly formed as a new leaf curved by wind. He writes of 'a name within a name' and of 'a darkness in the dark' while everywhere the reader finds the life inside the life. His is a poetry of the 'should have said'—clear-eyed thoughts set to music, speakable only when fear has vanished, set forth without nostalgia or regret." —Susan Stewart

"Kevin Hart's poetry is lucid and accessible while giving voice to rich depths where mystery and being coalesce. It approaches the unapproachable, the impossible bolC