Poetry. Dana Gioia, known as a prolific, outspoken essayist and often both praised and attacked for his leadership of the New Formalist movement, is well respected as a serious critic of culture and poetry. In this new book, Gioia meditates on the uninvited epiphanies of middle age and marriage: the fleeting shadows of past loves, the bittersweet ambiguity of lifetime commitments, and the painful memories of lost opportunity. Unflinchingly facing the past with all its losses and mistakes, he nonetheless praises the beauty of ordinary life.