Monster: Distortion, Abstraction, and Originality in Contemporary American Poetry argues that memorable and resonant poetry often distorts form, image, concept, and notions of truth and metaphor. Discussing how changes in electronic communication and artificial notions of landscape have impacted form and content in poetry, Monster redefines the idea of what is memorable and original through a broad range of poets including John Ashbery, Anne Carson, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Forrest Gander, Peter Gizzi, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Laura Kasischke, W. S. Merwin, Srikanth Reddy, Donald Revell, Mary Ruefle, Arthur Sze, and James Tate.

Mark Irwin received his PhD in English/comparative literature from Case Western Reserve University and his MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, including American Urn: New & Selected Poems (1987-2014). He has also translated two volumes of poetry. Recognition for his work includes The Nation/Discovery Award, two Colorado Book Awards, four Pushcart Prizes, the James Wright Poetry Award, and fellowships from the Fulbright, Lilly, NEA, and Wurlitzer Foundations. He is Associate Professor in the PhD in Creative Writing & Literature Program at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles and Colorado.

List of Illustrations - Acknowledgments - Distortion & Disjunction in Contemporary American Poetry - Poetry, Reality, & Place in a Placeless World of Global Communication - Toward a Wilderness of the Artificial - The Poem as Concept - Three Notions of Truth in Poetry - Raising Poetry to a Higher Power - Poetry & Memorability - Poetry & Originality: "Have you been there before?" - Origin, Presence, & Time in the Poetry of W. S. Merwin - Jorie Graham: Kite's Body & Beyond - A Romp through Ruefleland: Mary Ruefle's Selected Poems & Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures - Orpheus, Parzival, & Bartleby: Ways of Abstraction in Poetry - Bibliography - Author Index - About the Author.