This definitive biography gives a brilliant account of the life and art of Robert Duncan (1919-1988), one of America's great postwar poets. Lisa Jarnot takes us from Duncan's birth in Oakland, California, through his childhood in an eccentrically Theosophist household, to his life in San Francisco as an openly gay man who became an inspirational figure for the many poets and painters who gathered around him. Weaving together quotations from Duncan's notebooks and interviews with those who knew him, Jarnot vividly describes his life on the West Coast and in New York City and his encounters with luminaries such as Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Paul Goodman, Michael McClure, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, Robert Creeley, and Charles Olson.

Ring of Fire is a book of experimental lyric poetry in the tradition of American Poetry beginning with Walt Whitman and continuing through the Beat Generation, the New York School, and contemporary Language Poetry. Jarnot's work represents a synthesis of traditional modes of verse alongside more fragmented avant-garde writing practices. The poems in this collection resonate with homages to the metaphysical masters of the 17th Century while commenting on popular culture in the Western world.

Poetry. Jarnot's fourth book of poetry, REPTILE HOUSE, is a series of 'crocodile odes.' This is not as straightforward as it sounds. Playful and sharp, these amphibious poems live on both sides of language. Ranging from semi-serious Egyptian Book of the Dead style invocations to a "Gratuitous Crocodile Sonnet with Carnage," formal ballads to visual and sonic experiments, these always humorous poems explore these antediluvian beasts from almost every perspective imaginable. Whether envying his teeth or wearing shoes made of his skin, Jarnot weaves the crocodile into our lives in unexpected and insightful ways. Be sure to look for BLACK DOG SONGS and RING OF FIRE, also available from SPD.