Mount Lebanon

About Mount Lebanon

“Kirchwey shares the classicist’s vision of poetry as a living tradition that extends from antiquity to the present . . . and his poems in this issue are about violent love and transcendent longing, the great romantic themes.”
-Langdon Hammer, The American Scholar

“One of the very best poets of his generation.”
-John Hollander

“The poems shimmer with intelligence, wit, and delicacy; and yet at times they resonate with the deepest and most stirring of feelings.”
-Anthony Hecht

Mount Lebanon is a singular work from a mature talent. Loosely structured around an extinct Shaker community in New York state and the surrounding landscape, the book expands to include Kirchwey’s stories of aging, parenthood, romantic love, and even the domestic pleasures and dramas hidden within a garden. Each poem is beautifully crafted; taken together, they make up a powerful volume. This is a witty, stylish, and moving collection from a major American poet.