Anyone who has heard Collins give a reading knows that he revels in the magic of words. The consummate literary experimenter, Collins encourages us to find that magic, too.

Shakespeare’s linguistic dexterity and his emotional insights, together with the precise and well-structured sonnet form, make examination of his poems eminently worthwhile.

There is in Olds’ poetry a nagging insistence on human dignity, an insistence that’s difficult to explain apart from some transcendent grounding whether or not she herself explores it.