Only late in life, after a lengthy and unusual preparation, did Leslie Norris become an outstanding American Western writer and a master of the long poem. Since the publication of his first book of poetry, Tongue of Beauty, in 1943, Norris has continually reinvented himself and transformed his art--crossing countries, cultures, and genres throughout his long life and career. As a writer of short lyrics in the 1950s and early 1960s, he contributed to the Anglo-Welsh literary renaissance--led by his friends Dylan Thomas, Glyn Jones, Vernon Watkins, and Meic Stephens. From the mid 1960s to the late 1970s Norris gained renown as a much anthologized English poet and a gentle but perceptive critic, a friend of Ted Hughes and Ted Walker, and a respected writer of short stories published in The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. After appointments as Visiting Poet at various institutions in the United States...