In "X=," Stephen Berg winds through the wreck of longing and loss, navigating the strains of curious beauty with flashes of electrifying clarity. Stripping bare the burdens of gnawing, unknowing fear, Berg has found his way into a voice of great energy and spontaneity, into a form of overwhelming urgency and detail.

A poet of immeasurable versatility and invention, Berg is the recipient of the Frank O'Hara Memorial Prize, the Columbia University Translation Prize, and Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, Dietrich Foundation, and Pew fellowships.