to the formidable mystery of love, spanning several previous volumes all in dedication to the beloved.

For more than a decade, Gregory Orr has been writing toward "the Book: " an imagined tome containing every poem and song ever written. Drawing from a rich tradition of lyric poetry, Selected Books of the Beloved is the culmination of that project, and more--it is a celebration of the transformative power of poetry, and of our extraordinary capacity to feel and to love.