The Open Sea (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

The poems in this evocative collection are written in the same vein as Masters’s tour de force, Spoon River Anthology. In free verse, Masters gives voice to a gathering of historical figures and fictitious characters who tell their stories—both the poignant and the sordid—from places as diverse as ancient Rome, Babylon, and the American Midwest. Among the selections are “Adelaide and John Wilkes Booth,” and “Invocation to the Gods.”