Baron Wormser, a master of the persona poem, is well known for his empathic exploration of other people's lives. His fifth collection of poetry, Mulroney Others, includes an examination of his own life as well. His newest lyric narratives provide glimpses of his childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, as well as accounts of Vietnam vets and draft dodgers, socialites, and outcasts.Loyal readers will welcome Wormser's trademark poise -- the elegant balance he achieves with understatement that is both metrically deft and intellectually intricate. These poems prove Anais Nin's insight that "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Wormser's invitation to engage ourselves in seeing is irresistible, especially as he models the process with such impassioned interest. "'I know, ' everyone is saying at once/To one another and the word-riddled universe." he writes.

His poems tempt us to trade facile assumption for the powerful illumination of wonder. In Wormser's words, the universe isirrefutably personal.