ROBERT PINSKY is the author of several poetry books, including Gulf Music, Jersey Rain, The Want Bone, The Figured Wheel, ak At the Foundling Hospital. His bestselling translation The Inferno of Dante set a modern standard. He was poet laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000. Among his awards and honors are the William Carlos Williams Award, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the PEN/Voelcker Award, the Korean Manhae Prize, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the PEN American Center. His latest collection is Proverbs of Limbo: Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).