Sidney Carpenter, Ira Rubenstein, and James Wood were three vital and early readers of these poems who knew all the right questions to ask, and, more, could answer any question I put to them along the way. My father's editor, Bill Curtis, believed in the book from the start, promised to do right by it, and kept his word. My mother, Joan Dempsey, offered me bracing support and generosity of spirit as I struggled to do the work I only wish my father could have been alive to do.

Most of all, it is thanks to the boundless energy and sheer heart of Cynthia Reynolds, to whom this collection has been dedicated, that these poems now make their way to the hands of new readers, all perfectly imperfect in their own ways, but I hope and trust, according to the strongest wishes of Lewis Dempsey, each and every one understanders.

Flora Dempsey

a cognizant original v5 release october 06 2010

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe thanks to many who have lent wisdom and offered comfort throughout the writing of this book. To Jennifer Carlson, insightful, wry, and steadfast, who took a chance on the novel before it was one, read more drafts than is decent, and made the book better every time. To Deborah Garrison, intellectually rigorous, pa.s.sionate, and sensitive, the editor of my dreams. And to Caroline Zancan, who has made the way smooth. To Rivka Galchen, Ella Georgiades, Alena Graedon, Nellie Hermann, Karen Thompson, and Cora Weimer-Hodes, adored friends, who read earlier versions with generosity, grit, and invaluable intelligence. To my humorous and talented teachers at Columbia's Writing Division, who saw the novel through its awkward stages. To the brilliant Professor Edward Tayler, from whom I borrowed and no doubt b.a.s.t.a.r.dized the notion of the reader as understander. To our incomparable critic James Wood, from whom I borrowed several ideas to create the character of James Wood. To Claire Tomalin, whose Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy helped me to work out who the poet was to Lewis Dempsey. To my family, dazzling and true, for their fierce belief, which at the crucial moment meant everything. And especially to Matt, my home, who has given this book and its author more love and care than either deserved-thank you. helped me to work out who the poet was to Lewis Dempsey. To my family, dazzling and true, for their fierce belief, which at the crucial moment meant everything. And especially to Matt, my home, who has given this book and its author more love and care than either deserved-thank you.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maggie Pouncey was born in New York City and grew up there and in Amherst, Ma.s.sachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut. She received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Columbia University. She has taught writing at Columbia, the Bard Prison Initiative, and the New York City nonprofit Girls Write Now. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. This is her first novel.