Spinoza Doesn’t Come Here Anymore

Colette Inez

Part of the New York Poets series

“Innovative, varied, sharp-edged … [a writer of] substantial achievement.” —The New York Times

One of NYC’s most popular poets issues “The work of a lifetime”.

In the vanguard of contemporary poetry since the 1970’s, Colette Inez’s unique and thoroughly original voice is an important contribution to American Poetry. She has been praised by poet laureate Stanley Kuntiz — “I like the hard contents of her poems, the anger and the fine control” — and Anne Sexton, who said Inez’s work gave her “that kind of pain/pleasure one gets from the real thing.”

Her latest collection combines her wild sense of fun with wide-ranging erudition, in a book that is both a love letter to New York City and to the great tradition of the Enlightenment. Spinoza Doesn’t Come Here Anymore shows Inez at the peak of her talents, in a stunning tour-de-force that may be the most impassioned yet controlled work of her illustrious career. The collection shows her voice to be as vivacious, smart, and fiery as ever, now with a seasoned wisdom and compassion that’s absolutely beguiling. It is, in short, the work of a lifetime.

COLETTE INEZ is the author of nine books of poetry, including Clemency and Getting Under Way: New and Selected Poems. She was born in Brussels, Belgium, and raised in a Catholic orphanage. At age eight she was given into the care of an American family and moved to New York. Inez is the recipient of numerous awards for poetry, including two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Foundation award, and two Pushcart Prizes. She teaches poetry at Columbia University.