This work is a compilation of poems from the 13th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. HIs books have been awarded the Society of Midland Authors Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, the James Boatwright Prize, and two Prairie Schooner Awards. He was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

This collection of poems deals with such themes as a history teacher who lies about the past in order to protect his children, and a wolf who reads fairy tales until he enters one