In this masterwork from one of America’s foremost poets, one-time United States Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin guides readers to universal themes through worldly specifics in poems that are fully engaged with living, serious yet playful, inspiring and full of wonder. Similar in tone and effect to Pablo Neruda’s Elemental Odes, every poem in Present Company addresses the human encounters and ordinary objects of daily life. Whether writing of an imaginary vehicle in “To Zbigniew Herbert’s Bicycle” or watching fireworks from a distance in “To the Coming Winter,” Merwin creates a rare and compelling intimacy.

Softcover, 137pg