Just exquisite. A signed version of the poet's first book, dating to 1962. Barbara Guest created a body of work that was quintessentially postmodern...and also sumptuous and sensuous and filled with endless possibilities for her reader. I can't imagine another great poet who was more ekphrastic in her methods. Barbara Guest IS ekphrasis! So much of her poetry is an alembicization of the visual art she enjoyed. True alchemy of the word, as Rimbaud wanted. She emerges super gorgeous and fully formed in this first collection. I remember her poo-poohing comparisons to Wallace Stevens in an interview once, but I think the interviewer was on to something. There is that delightful embodiment of philosophy in musical language here. No writing or other defacements inside this sublime copy. Just the terse dedication (as was her wont) to Eric. Who do you think it was? Eric Mottram? Everybody hypes Ashbery, and O'Hara, and they are delightful, but for my money, Barbara Guest was the real genius in the first generation of the New York school. No wonder the language poets embraced her work. She was already where they wanted to be, in the 1960s, no less. The book was published in 1962 and this copy was dedicated in 1968. (3BBr)