Stephen Dobyns exposes the bruised male ego in this innovative and wildly original book of prose poems, maxims and definitions, with pictures by Howie Michels. The barbed and wistful poems feature men looking back over past failures and successes, intercut with tart one-liners or "considerations" - like La Rochefoucauld's maxims brought painfully up to date. Dobyns' spikiest book ends with his own devil's dictionary in which his sharp quill pricks our pretensions, evasions and delusions by mischievously revealing the real, possible or covert meanings of words we use every day. Stephen Dobyns is one of America's leading poets. He is a spinner of dark, extravagant fables of a world we live or may live in. They present a view of what it means to be human which is at once both funny and bleak, compassionate and remorseless. His is a world haunted by regret, driven by desire and need, illuminated by daring make-believe. In his often frightening and sometimes strangely funny poems, Stephen Dobyns creates a remarkable bridge between pure entertainment and deep psychological insight.