What I Can't Bear Losing

Gerald Stern's poetry has been variously praised for its visionary quality, its scope and passion, but most especially for its wholehearted embrace of life. Stern's special manner of joie de vivre is immediately evident in his prose pieces as well. In this collection of personal essays, Stern speaks to the reader on subjects closest to his heart -- family, justice, Jewishness, ecstasy, loss, and love, as well as Andy Warhol, Paris, and getting shot in the neck. He ranges from passionate literary discussions to buoyant anecdotes about "borrowing" William Carlos Williams' hat from the writer's historic home. With seven new pieces, What I Can't Bear Losing celebrates a writer passionately engaged with life in America after World War II and gives a glimpse of the poetic processes of one of today's most beloved literary voices.