Portrait and Dream: New and Selected Poems

Titled after a Jackson Pollock painting at once figural and abstract, this collection spans nearly fifty years of Bill Berkson€s poetry in all its deftness and variety. His poems, full of nuance, intensity, and exuberant wit, spread meaning across the page like quicksilver. Engaging in a mix of topics and styles, Berkson deals with aspects of the observable world, dreams, art, elements, and ecstasy to create a body of work suffused with light.

Born in New York, Bill Berkson is a poet, art critic, and teacher. Formerly a professor of liberal arts at the San Francisco Art Institute, he lives in San Francisco and New York.