New and Selected Poems

Michael Ryan's three collections-the Yale Younger-winning Threats Instead of Trees (1974), the National Poetry Series selection In Winter (1981) and the Lenore Marshall-winning God Hunger (1989)-are represented by 11, 12 and 34 pieces, respectively, in his New and Selected Poems, along with 31 new verses. In all, Ryan's straight-talking diction moves quickly from interjection to conversational analysis to terse, noirish declaration: ""Oh well,/ whatever heart-bursting terror// I'm supposed to learn in dreams/ could be useful someday/ when a beloved voice screams/ and life changes utterly// No one's immune./ It's happening to someone right now./ The police, the ambulance,/ these strangers in the house.""