163 pp. Edges with light gray stains. Rear of wraps with light wear. In English and French. 'Thirty-seven American poets and one British poet have answered out call for texts, many even composing works specifically for the occasion. The resulting collection, finally, is often strikingly polemic. The poets we contacted were sensitive to the political nature of the anthology's joint publication in two countries whose relationship has come under considerable strain as of late. It's been said, in so many words, that Leaves of Grass dresses American democracy in a moose-pasture of universality. It's true we can no longer harken to this and other of its utopian fictions with equal naivete. But our world needs beauty, ethics and ideals . . . ' John Ashbery, Guy Bennett, Bill Berkson, Charles Bernstein, Charles Borkhuls, Macgregor Card, Robert Creeley, Tom Devaney, Ray DiPalma, Brandon Downing, Marcella Durand, Chris Edgar, Clayton Eshleman, Mark Ford, Peter Gizzi, Jorie Graham, Michael Heller, Fanny Howe, Susan Howe, Robert Kelly, Lisa Lubasch, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ron Padgett, Michael Palmer, Kristin Prevallet, Joan Retallack, Sarah Riggs, Stephen Rodefer, Lytle Shaw, Eleni Sikelianos, Rod Smith, Cole Swenson, David Trinidad, Anne Waldman, Keith Waldrop, Jonathan Williams, Elizabeth Willis, Andrew Zawacki. in memorian Robert Creeley (1926-2005)