A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, using her signature voice--inquisitive, lyrical and wry--mulls over what it means to be a citizen, a mother and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men and violence, boldly tying America's modern moment both to our nation's fraught founding history and to a sense of the spirit, the everlasting.

Garden of Eden -- The angels -- Hill country -- Deadly -- A man's world -- The world is your beautiful younger sister -- Realm of shades -- Driving to Ottawa -- Wade in the water -- Declaration -- The greatest personal privation -- Unwritten -- I will tell you the truth about this, I will tell you all about it -- Ghazal -- The United States welcomes you -- New road station -- Theatrical improvisation -- Unrest in Baton Rouge -- Watershed -- Political poem -- Eternity -- Ash -- Beatific -- Charity -- In your condition -- 4 1/2 -- Dusk -- Urban youth -- The everlasting self -- Annunciation -- Refuge -- An old story.