nThis is one of the wisest books Ive read in years... --New York Times Book Review nNo writer I know of comes close to even trying to articulate the weird magic of poetry as Ruefle does. She acknowledges and celebrates in the odd mystery and mysticism of the act--the fact that poetry must both guard and reveal, hint at and pull back... Also, and maybe most crucially, Ruefles work is never once stuffy or overdone: she writes this stuff with a level of seriousness-as-play thats vital and welcome, that doesnt make writing poetry sound anything but wild, strange, life-enlargening fun. -The Kenyon Review n nProfound, unpredictable, charming, and outright funny...These informal talks have far more staying power and verve than most of their kind. Readers may come away dazzled, as well as amused... --Publishers Weekly n nThis is a book not just for poets but for anyone interested in the human heart, the inner-life, the breath exhaling a completion of an idea that will make you feel changed in some way. This is a desert island book. --Matthew Dickman n nThe accomplished poet is humorous and self-deprecating in this collection of illuminating essays on poetry, aesthetics and literature... --San Francisco Examiner n nn nOver the course of fifteen years, Mary Ruefle delivered a lecture every six months to a group of poetry graduate students. Collected here for the first time, these lectures include Poetry and the Moon, Someone Reading a Book Is a Sign of Order in the World, and Lectures I Will Never Give. Intellectually virtuosic, instructive, and experiential, Madness, Rack, and Honey resists definition, demanding instead an utter--and utterly pleasurable--immersion. Finalist for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award.n nMary Ruefle has published more than a dozen books of poetry, prose, and erasures. She lives in Vermont.n n