John Balaban is an extraordinary writer and storyteller whose prize-winning poetry and prose are informed by a love of languages, deep scholarship, hard travel, and a willingness to confront the violence and sufferings of the world. In this essential collection of his work, the best of his prize-winning poems since 1970 are collected in one place, threaded through with essays that link poetry to Balaban's extensive travels, whether hitchhiking throughout the United States or wandering the countryside of Vietnam—during wartime—to record and translate folk poetry.

The result is a remarkable story about a life in poetry. Empathetic, truth-telling, and fiercely perceptive, Passing through a Gate is a literary tour de force. As Maxine Kumin reminds us, "Balaban seems to me our moral spokesperson, our lyricist, our polemicist, exhorter, and consoler: in short, the poet we need."