Sweet Machine

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.