A Forest on Many Stems: Essays on the Poet's Novel provides a unique entrance to the rare prose of many remarkable modern and contemporary poets including Etel Adnan, Renee Gladman, Langston Hughes, Kevin Killian, Alice Notley, Fernando Pessoa, Rainer Maria Rilke, Leslie Scalapino, Jack Spicer, and Jean Toomer, whose approaches to the novel defy conventions of plot, character, setting, and action.

Contributors: Brian Blanchfield, Anne Boyer, John Keene, Mónica de la Torre, Cedar Sigo, and C. D. Wright bring a variety of insights, approaches, and writing styles to the subject with creative and often surprising results. Kazim Ali on Fanny Howe Dan Beachy-Quick on W.G. Sebald Edmund Berrigan on Ted Berrigan Brian Blanchfield on Aaron Kunin Rachel Blau DuPlessis on Gertrude Stein Julia Bloch on Gwendolyn Brooks Anne Boyer on Elizabeth Barrett Browning Traci Brimhall on Hilda Hilst Vincent Broqua on Stacy Doris Brandon Brown on Kevin Killian Lee Ann Brown on Carla Harryman Angela Carr on Nicole Brossard Julie Carr on Lyn Hejinian Norma Cole on Emmanuel Hocquard Brent Cunningham on Laura Moriarty Mónica de la Torre on Martín Adán Marcella Durand on Robert Creeley Patrick Durgin on Tan Lin & Pamela Lu Norman Fischer on Phillip Whalen C.S. Giscombe on Audre Lorde Judith Goldman on Leslie Scalapino Carla Harryman on Gail Scott Jeanne Heuving on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Laura Hinton on Alice Notley Daniel Katz on Jack Spicer John Keene on Fernando Pessoa Karla Kelsey on Barbara Guest Aaron Kunin on Lewis Carroll Sonnet L'Abbé on M. NourbeSe Philip Abigail Lang on Jacques Roubaud Kimberly Lyons on Mina Loy W. Jason Miller on Langston Hughes Mette Moestrup on Ingeborg Bachmann Laura Moriarty on Keith Waldrop Laura Mullen on Bhanu Kapil Denise Newman on Inger Christensen Aldon Lynn Nielsen on Amiri Baraka Geoffrey G. O'Brien on John Ashbery & James Schuyler Jena Osman on Thalia Field Julie Patton on Jean Toomer Elizabeth Robinson on Rosmarie Waldrop Jennifer Scappettone on H.D. Susan Scarlata on Forrest Gander Brandon Shimoda on Etel Adnan Cedar Sigo on Eileen Myles Sasha Steensen on Anne Carson Donna Stonecipher on Peter Waterhouse Brian Teare on Rainer Maria Rilke Tyrone Williams on Nathaniel Mackey C.D. Wright on Michael Ondaatje Lynn Xu on Ben Lerner Rachel Zolf on Juliana Spahr