"He brings something ancient and compelling . . . a kind of rare Sephardic wisdom, a brilliance traveling at the speed of Los Angeles light. He is one of America's very best poets. A true visionary."-Tomaz Salamun

"Angel's poems are deceptively quiet, deceptively calm. Beneath their carefully constructed surfaces, they are wild, even intimidating. The power of restraint in poetry cannot be overestimated. . . . These poems burn from within."-Carol Muske-Dukes, LA Times

With the publication of his award-winning volumes, Anxious Latitudes, Neither World, and Twice Removed,Ralph Angel has won the admiration of readers of contemporary poetryfor the extraordinary abstract lyricism of his poems. There is a superbgrace, speculative intelligence, and a wry philosophical wisdom toAngel's poetry. There are few poets so accomplished at creating anelegant yet innovative and provocative voice. Now, in Ralph Angel's Exceptions and Melancholies: Poems 19862006,we find ourselves again in the presence of poetry that will move useven closer to a new and renewed promise of the American sublime. AsMark Doty has written, "These are the poems of a casual, down-to-earthphilosopher who's been spun around and turned inside out by loss, bythe desolation of life in the late [and early] hours of the century. .. . Angel's poems are stamped indelibly with the mark of a unique,shaping imagination, and they're fresh with news of how it feels tolive right now. He creates himself and his poems'characters, strangepeople in a strangely familiar place. We recognize them, of course, aswell we might since they are ourselves and the city where they live isours.

Ralph Angelis the author of three previous collections of poetry: Anxious Latitudes;Neither World, which received the 1995 James Laughlin Award of The Academy of American Poets; and Twice Removed; as well as a translation of Federico Garca Lorca's Poem of the Deep Song.

Angel'spoems have appeared in scores of magazines and anthologies, both hereand abroad, and recent literary awards include a gift from the ElginCox Trust, a Pushcart Prize, the 2003 Willis Barnstone PoetryTranslation Prize, a Fulbright Foundation fellowship, and the BessHokin Award of the Modern Poetry Association.

Mr. Angel is theEdith R. White Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writingat the University of Redlands, and a member of the MFA Program inWriting faculty at Vermont College. Originally from Seattle, he livesin Los Angeles.

"He brings something ancient and compelling . . . a kind of rare Sephardic wisdom, a brilliance traveling at the speed of Los Angeles light. He is one of America's very best poets. A true visionary."-Tomaz Salamun B "Angel's poems are deceptively quiet, deceptively calm. Beneath their carefully constructed surfaces, they are wild, even intimidating. The power of restraint in poetry cannot be overestimated. . . . These poems burn from within."-Carol Muske-Dukes, LA Times

Angel is the author of four poetry books: Anxious Latitudes; Neither World, which received the 1995 James Laughlin Award; Twice Removed; and Exceptions and Melancholies: Poems 1986-2006. He teaches at the University of Redlands, and a member of the MFA Program in Writing faculty at Vermont College. Originally from Seattle, he lives in Los Angeles.