All of Us: The Collected Poems

"I began as a poet, my first publication was a poem. So I suppose on my tombstone I'd be very pleased if they put 'Poet and short-story writer--and occasional essayist' in that order."Now, in what would have been his sixtieth year, and ten years after his death, Raymond Carver's poems--more than three hundred in all--are collected in this volume, allowing readers to experience their full range and overwhelming cumulative power. This complete edition brings together, in their order of publication, the early poems of Fires, the mature work of Where Water Comes Together with Other Water and Ultramarine, and the last, intensely moving collection, A New Path to the Waterfall. Poems uncollected during his lifetime, but published posthumously in No Heroics, Please, are included in an appendix.The text has been edited by Professor William L. Stull of the University of Hartford, whose notes address details of first publication and significant variant readings. The introduction by Tess Gallagher, Mr. Carver's widow, provides valuable insights into his methods of composition. Hailed as our own Chekhov, and certainly the preeminent storyteller of his time, Raymond Carver is revealed in All of Us as the "heir to that most appealing American poetic voice, the lyricism of Theodore Rothke and James Wright" (New York Times). And whether in fiction or verse, his heart, craft, and vision ensure his essential position in modern literature.