In her first collection of essays, Molly McQuade considers poetry from its composition to its publication, critical reception, translation, and consumption. Her close readings of poems by Emily Dickinson and John Ashberry, among others, offer new insights for those readers blinded by familiarity. Both historically informed and hip, she considers the community that literature represents: its friendships, influences, and oppositions. McQuade's essays feature her trademark expertise as a well known reviewer, editor, and writer who is fueled by a passionate interest in ideas and an irrepressible ambivalence.