Dancing in the Cosmos: New and Selected Poems, 1973-2024

Dancing in the Cosmos contains work selected by Floyd Skloot from his nine previous poetry collections as well as a group of new poems written in the last decade, including an exploration of his life since the onset of Parkinson’s disease.

At the heart of the book is a consideration of illness and love, science and grit, and clarity of purpose when chaos rules. Much of Skloot’s writing reflects the experience of becoming disabled in 1988 from viral—born brain damage, as he shows how full engagement in life and the world is not only possible but essential when life takes unexpected turns and when illness seems to derail all progress. His poems make use of poetry’s traditional forms and structures, along with its contemporary freedoms, its range of linguistic and rhythmic possibilities, and its capacity for fighting its way again and again toward the necessary strength that enables endurance, and even celebration.