Dream Work, a collection of forty-five poems, follows both chronologically and l
ogically Mary Oliver's American Primitive, which won her the Pulitzer Prize for
poetry in 1983. The depth and diversity of perceptual awareness - so steadfast a
nd radiant in American Primitive - continues in Dream Work. Additionally, she ha
s turned her attention in these poems to the solitary and difficult labors of th
e spirit - to accepting the truth about one's personal world, and to valuing the
triumphs while transcending the failures of human relationships.
