Hide Now

Glyn Maxwell's previous book, The Sugar Mile, was heralded as a bold expansion of the art of poetry. Hide Now, his newest collection, written in wry, colloquial language and employing a brilliant array of poetic forms, delivers a commentary on the icons and iconic moments of the present. With a vision both apocalyptic and comic, Maxwell takes us from Robespierre to Dick Cheney to Guns N' Roses, from the unearthly quiet of a war zone to the pompous flapping of a flag to the sound of a departed friend's voice: "a certain note / I almost hear, can almost manage / in this throat." Hide Now is further evidence that Maxwell is the most adept heir to the poetic legacies of W. H. Auden and Robert Frost; James Wood described him as "the major poet of his generation." Fierce, direct, and bristling with intelligence, Hide Now is a remarkable addition to the oeuvre of a truly original poet.