Josephine Jacobsen left behind a legacy of almost a dozen books and several considerable honors, including a position as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1971–1973), the 1988 Lenore Marshall Award, the 1993 Shelley Memorial Award, and the Poetry Society of America’s highest honor—the Robert Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry—in 1997.

Contents of a Minute is a treasure of recently discovered and previously unpublished poetry. Written with the spare eloquence and freedom of mind which Jacobsen was so well-known for, this collection of poems pays tribute to a woman ahead of her time.