I. Meatloaf. The things -- Love's progress -- Showtunes -- Ruins -- Conclusion at Union Lake -- Three women -- Nymph and shepherd -- Bangers and mash -- River -- Meatloaf -- The week -- Convergences -- Advent -- Apples peaches -- After the prom -- Creative writing -- The pursuit of poetry -- Ric's progress.

III. Rocking Chairs Painted green. The number -- Scar tissue -- Sleep -- Closing -- What we did -- Searching -- The gardener -- The offspring -- Freezes and Junes -- The widower's cowbell -- Goosefeathers -- the back chamber -- Maples -- The bone ring -- Alterations -- Pieces -- Envy -- "Poetry and ambition" -- Green farmhouse chairs.

The first full-length volume of poems in a decade by the former poet laureate of the United States. He illuminates the evocative, iconic objects of deep memory--"a cowbell," "a white stone perfectly round," "a three-legged milking stool"--that serve to foreground the rich meditations on time and mortality that run through his remarkable new collection. While Hall's devoted readers will recognize many of his long-standing preoccupations--baseball, the family farm, love, sex, and friendship--what will strike them as new is the fierce, pitiless poignancy he reveals as his own life's end comes into view.