J.D. McClatchy has published eight collections of poetry, most recently Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems. He is the author of three books of prose, and the editor of dozens of other books, including the influential Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry. Called by the New York Times the dean of American opera librettists, ” his work has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, the San Francisco Opera and other leading opera houses around the world. He teaches at Yale, where for twenty-five years he has also served as editor of The Yale Review.