In his richest and most varied collection of poems to date, Robert Bly mines lifelong fascination with poetic form. The poems in Talking into the Ear of a Donkey range from free verse to Bly’s uniquely American version of the famous ghazal form. In the title poem, Bly addresses the “donkey”—possibly poetry itself—which has carried him through a writing life of more than six decades:

from "Talking into the Ear of a Donkey"
      "What has happened to the spring,"
      I cry, "and our legs that were so joyful
      In the bobblings of April?" "Oh, never mind
      About all that," the donkey
      Says. "Just take hold of my mane, so you
      Can lift your lips closer to my hairy ears."