Sweet Machine. Poems by

Mark Doty's last two award-winning collections of poetry, as well as his acclaimed memoir Heaven's Coast, used the devastation of AIDS as a lens through which to consider questions of loss, love and identity. The poems in Sweet Machine see the world from a new, hard-won perspective: A coming back to life, after so much death, a way of seeing the body's "sweet machine" not simply as a time bomb, but also as a vibrant, sensual, living thing.
These poems are themselves "sweet machines"-lyrical, exuberant and joyous-and they mark yet another milestone in the extraordinary career of one of our most distinguished and accomplished poets. This award-winning collection finds radiance in the wreckage, exploring: Grief and Healing: A hard-won perspective that moves from the devastation of the AIDS crisis toward a powerful coming back to life. Art as Survival: Lyrical meditations on craftsmanship and beauty, finding resilience in the gleam of Murano glass, the folds of a silk kimono, and the lustrous surfaces of the made world.
Love After Loss: An intimate, observant voice charts the journey from elegiac remembrance to the vibrant, sensual rediscovery of love and the body. Elegiac Poetry: Exuberant and joyous poems that don't erase the past, but build a radiant present upon the foundation of memory and loss.