The Back Chamber

In The Back Chamber, Donald Hall illuminates the evocative, iconic objects of deep memory-a cowbell, a white stone perfectly round, a three-legged milking stool-that serve to foreground the rich meditations on time and mortality that run through his remarkable new collection. While Hall's devoted readers will recognize many of his long-standing preoccupations-baseball, the family farm, love, sex, and friendship-what will strike them as new is the fierce, pitiless poignancy he reveals as his own life's end comes into view. The Back Chamber is far from being death-haunted, but rather is lively, irreverent, erotic, hilarious, ironic, and sly-full of the life-affirming energy that has made Donald Hall one of America's most popular and enduring poets.