Originally published in 1996, Love Had a Compass was lauded as one of the best portraits of Lax's life and work.

• Love Had a Compass was the first and remains the only collection of Lax's work to print his previously unpublished sequence of poems, Port City: The Marseille Diaries, which is often considered Lax's finest work.
• New Directions will also reissue Robert Lax's 33 Poems in February. This simultaneous reissue is sure to attract media and review attention