Gilbert has always published slowly — about a book a decade — but this retrospective is hefty, containing all of his books to date, plus some new poems. Gilbert writes with worldliness and authority, his poetic speaker seems to have been everywhere, done everything, had everything, lost everything and returned, wounded and enlarged. He takes in a panoramic view in every line, so we believe he knows precisely what he's talking about when he says things like: "Desire perishes / because it