In poems that travel from the horrific flight of a World War II pilot to the World Trade Center attack, from the death of JFK Jr. to the poet's own bastard birth, Ai conjures purity as a distant memory and the knowledge of evil as an "infinite dark night." "An undoubtedly powerful personae."— "Ai's cleansing soliloquies give voice to pain both personal and communal....[ ] presents her most masterfully unnerving works to date."— " has the characteristic moral strength that makes Ai a necessary poet."—