Karl Shapiro, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1945, is an American poetic treasure and an acknowledged master of lyrical poetry whose subjects have ranged from commonplace objects and occurrences to biting political commentary to open celebrations of the contradictions in humanity"s moral nature. As his subjects have evolved, so has his style, developing and modulating into various forms, but always with an essential lyricism. To read Shapiro"s work as it unfolds in The Wild Card will be to grasp the depth and breadth of a great poet"s career and the many sides of his nature.