{"product_id":"9780374713386","title":"Metaphysical Dog","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNational Book Critics Circle Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eA National Book Award Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA vital, searching new collection from one of finest American poets at work today\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \"Those Nights,\" Frank Bidart writes: \"We who could get \/ somewhere through \/ words through \/ sex could not.\" Words and sex, art and flesh: In \u003ci\u003eMetaphysical Dog\u003c\/i\u003e, Bidart explores their nexus. The result stands among this deeply adventurous poet's most powerful and achieved work, an emotionally naked, fearlessly candid journey through many of the central axes, the central conflicts, of his life, and ours.\u003cbr\u003e     Near the end of the book, Bidart writes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e     In adolescence, you thought your work\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e     ancient work: to decipher at last\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e      human beings' relation to God. Decipher\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e     love. To make what was once whole\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e     whole again: or to see\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e     why it never should have been thought whole.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     This \"ancient work\" reflects what the poet sees as fundamental in human feeling, what psychologists and mystics have called the \"hunger for the Absolute\"—a hunger as fundamental as any physical hunger. This hunger must confront the elusiveness of the Absolute, our self-deluding, failed glimpses of it. The third section of the book is titled \"History is a series of failed revelations.\"\u003cbr\u003e     The result is one of the most fascinating and ambitious books of poetry in many years. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e's Best Poetry Books of 2013 \u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book of 2013 \u003cbr\u003eAn NPR Best Book of 2013\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47104189300976,"sku":"9780374713386","price":9.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780374713386_p0.jpg?v=1769917245","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780374713386","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}