Books in the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry series

In this collection of poems - which won the 2002 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry - topics range from a union barbershop in mid-century Detroit, the obstetrics ward in a Cambodian refugee camp, the ""befuddlement"" of childhood, and the wisdom of the nursing child.

The first full-length collection in many years by an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Nation, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, The Threepenny Review, and a host of other journals.

The Royal Baker's Daughter was raised on a diet of stone soup and the occasional leftover royal treat. This leaves her with an appetite for authenticity. With nothing but her two deft hands to guide her, she embarks on a journey into the dark forest, ""where sticks and stones and absolutes reign and nothing, even sin, is original.