Envelope of Night features an insightful foreword by the author, generous selections from five early books (the out-of-print collections In a White Light, Ruby for Grief, The Fires They Kept, Fictions from the Self and None, River) and "A Thief in the Lamp," a compelling, book-length section of previously unpublished poems that provides crucial insight into the trajectory of the development of Burkard's work. This definitive volume is an essential record of the achievements of a major American writer and a dazzling litmus of the range of the poetic mind.