"Our favorite 'unsung' poet," were the words Chapters Bookstore used when including Karl Kirchwey's The Engrafted Wordamong their 1998 favorite books. Now, in this new volume, Kirchwey -whose work has garnered high praise from such poets as Richard Wilbur, John Hollander, and James Merrill and who has been the recipient of prestigious prizes and fellowships-continues his explorations into the impact of the past on the present. But he also adds a strong dimension of moral gravity and social satire along with a deeper-and deeply moving-element of the personal. At the Palace of Jovedisplays Kirchwey's great gifts, offering poems of uncommon wit, piercing intelligence, visionary clarity, and generous emotional power.