Huge dreams

For the first time in one volume, The New Book / A Book of Torture and Star present vividly contrasting sides of poetry's consciousness. In The New Book / A Book of Torture, a classic example of immediate biological expression, Michael McClure simultaneously delves into, and delivers himself from, the self-christened "dark night of the soul." Star, a book of wide-ranging exploration, spiritual discovery, and political protest, springs from the essence of our humanity - emotions, the sensations of eros, and play. Both were influential in expanding poetry into a larger world that focused on nature, the environment, antiwar activities, individual anarchism, Zen Buddhism, jazz, and a kind of romantic mystical thought. Together these two books impart a sense of the rich texture and individuality that fueled the Beat scene.