In 2002, Frank Bidart published a sequence of poems, "Music Like Dirt," the first chapbook ever to be a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. From the beginning, he had conceived this sequence as the opening movement in a larger structure--now, with "Star Dust," finally complete.
In this profound and unforgettable new book, the dream beyond desire (which now seems to represent human destiny) is rooted in the drive to create, a drive tormented at every stage by failure, as the temporal being fights for its survival by making an eternal life. Bidart is a poet of passionate originality, and "Star Dust" shows that the forms of this originality continue to deepen and change as he constantly renews his contract with the idea of truth.
"Star Dust" is a 2005 National Book Award Finalist for Poetry.