Since his first poetry collection, Lies, C. K. Williams has nurtured an incomparable reputationβas a deeply moral poet, a writer of profound emotion, and a teller of compelling stories. In Writers Writing Dying, he retains the essential parts of his poetic identityβhis candor, the drama of his verses, the social conscience of his themesβwhile slyly reinventing himself, re-casting his voice, and in many poems examining the personalβsexual desire, the hubris of youth, the looming specter of deathβmore bluntly and bravely than ever. In βProse,β he confronts his nineteen year-old self, who despairs of writing poetry, with the question βHow could anyone know this little?β In a poem of meditation, βThe Day Continues Lovely,β he radically expands the scale of his attention: βMeanwhile cosmos roars on with so many voices we canβt hear ourselves think. Galaxy on. Galaxy off. Universe on, but another just behind this one . . . β Even the poetβs own purpose is questioned; in βDraft 23β he asks, βBetween scribble and slashβare we trying to change the world by changing the words?β With this wildly vibrant collectionβby turns funny, moving, and surprisingβWilliams proves once again that, he has, in Michael Hofmannβs words, βas much scope and truthfulness as any American poet since Lowell and Berryman.β
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