From his first book, through the National Book Award finalist Once for the Last Bandit, to his newest poems, Samuel Hazo’s themes have remained consistent. With each collection he wonders anew at the persistence of mortality in the midst of vibrant living and of love in all our relations. In his lithe, metrical lines, he writes with equal ease of Geneva, Switzerland, or Johnstown, Pennsylvania; of the matador Manolete in his dying moments or the innocent eyes of an eleven-year-old son; of the rewards of creating great art or the frustrations and joys of driving a Roosevelt Coupé. With The Holy Surprise of Right Now, Hazo gives his readers a powerful summation gathered from forty years of work.

Samuel Hazo has published books of poetry, fiction, essays, and various works of translation, and has written two plays. His most recent books are the poetry collection The Past Won’t Stay Behind You; Stills, a novel; and an essay collection, The Rest Is Prose. Dr. Hazo is a professor at Duquesne University and director of the International Poetry Forum. In 1993 he was named first state poet of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.