Poetry is not the world. We cannot breathe its atmosphere, we cannot live there, but we can visit,
like sponge divers in bulbous copper helmets come to claim some small portion
of the miraculous. -from Poetry and the World

After nearly a decade, In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys marks a return for Campbell McGrath to the poetic forms that brought him national acclaim-lyrical mediations on American art and society by turns satirical, tender and haunted by the merciless work of time. In poems such as Dick Cheney Speaks to Me in a Dream and Shopping for Pomegranates at Wal-Mart on New Year’s Day McGrath explores the intersection of the personal and the public realms of American culture like no other poet at work today. Whether he’s documenting the decay and transformation of American cities, eulogizing Allen Ginsberg and Frank O'Hara, or rhapsodizing on the extra-mortal lifespan of books, McGrath writes poems of dazzling energy, intelligence, humor, and engagement. In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys is a collection of dreams, visions, jibes, essays, arguments and love songs, each of them transformed into poetry by one of our most honored and entertaining poets.