The Long Game

By Grace Cavalieri

Selected poems from 20 of Cavalieri’s 26 published volumes of poetry embrace the years 1979-2022, with the added bonus of a generous number of new poems. Together they sing a long life rich with compassion, sharp perception, adventurous craft, and a startling variety of subject matter. Cavalieri recreates for us the life of a child growing up in Trenton, of a Navy wife, of an active member of the DC community, of a wise poetry mentor, of a loving friend and mother, and the chronicler of many fictional characters, vivid and compelling. These poems share all the selves she has been as well as those she studied or created from whole cloth: here for the lucky reader are all the textures and transformations that a talented lifelong poet can bring to the page.