Prior to her suicide in the summer of 2013, KathleeneWest left instructions to her literary executor KittyMcCord and to her long-time poetry editor to carefor her writing. Hence, much of her work is nowhoused in the archives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln library, and, as promised to her before herdeath, is included in this collection of new andselected poems. She had always wanted a “red” book,she had said, and The Red Book: Selected Poems, Oldand New is the culmination of that last wish.

This book includes the best of her work fromNo Warning, Land Bound, Garden Report, WaterWitching, Plainswoman, The Farmer’s Daughter, Deathof a Regional Poet, Tourists of the Revolution, andfrom files of previously unpublished or uncollectedwork. The Red Book attests to the fact that West wasa powerful voice for poetry, and one that had placesleft to go.