Swirl & Vortex: Collected Poems

by Larry Levis

All the blazingly original work by Larry Levis, “one of the greatest poets of a generation” (Carolyn Forché)

The poetry of Larry Levis increasingly occupies a legendary place of reverence among poets and readers—the spell of his reputation only continuing to widen in the thirty years since his death. From the briefer lyrics and deep image-making of his early books to the long sequences and operatic narratives of his last works, Levis’s poems have an unmistakable signature, a way of expressing the sweep of history, perception, and heartbreak. Over his career, his poetic lines broadened to accommodate the cinematic aperture of his observations on American empire, poverty, landscape, migrant workers, political violence, addiction, and art. Levis’s expansive poems came to resemble the interconnecting patterns just discernible in the eddies of a stream or the leaves circling in a wind.

Swirl & Vortex at last makes all of Levis’s poetry available in one definitive volume. This collection includes the five books published in Levis’s lifetime, a brilliant reconfiguration of Levis’s posthumous books, and unpublished late poems, edited and with an afterword by David St. John. To trace Levis’s poetic development into his extraordinary “late style of fire”—cut short by his early death—is one of the singular experiences in contemporary poetry. Swirl & Vortex is an essential collection by one of the great poets of the end of the twentieth century, and a transformative work spiraling out toward our future.

Genres: Poetry, Literary Fiction

576 pages, Hardcover

Published February 3, 2026

About the author

Larry Patrick Levis was born in Fresno, California, on September 30, 1946. His father was a grape grower, and in his youth Levis drove a tractor, pruned vines, and picked grapes in Selma, California. He earned a bachelor's degree from Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) in 1968, a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1970, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1974.

Among his honors were a YM-YWHA Discovery Award, three fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Levis died of a heart attack in 1996, at the age of 49.

Reviews

[Alexander]

Please read this

[Amanda]

The man's got bars, idc what my friends say. RIP Larry, you would've loved Tumblr.

[Rupert]

I somehow had never heard of Levi’s. A friend recommended him to me when this book came out and I’m eternally grateful.
A massive volume holding all of Levis’s books, I couldn’t stop reading. The further I went the excitement decreased somewhat, but like bands, I tend to favor an author’s earlier work. But if I hadn’t gorged and if I paced myself, most likely his maturation and growth with each later book would have made more of an impact.
But I will surely be going back to this collection often.
My only complaint is there isn’t any introduction or foreword to give context for new Levis readers like myself.
I remedied that by reading his memoir/lecture & criticism collection The Gazer Within.

[Paul Vermeersch]

Here it is! A worthy upgrade to the much-loved The Selected Levis. Again, with David St. John as editor, this is a must for any Levis enthusiast, and the perfect opportunity for readers new to his works to start with a definitive volume. Levis may have left us too early, but we are fortunate to have his important work presented with such care.

[Frank]

The biggest takeaway from this collection is that for my entire life, without realizing it, I’ve owed a debt to Larry Levis that I will never be able to pay.

[Justin]

When he's good he's great. The problem is he's good about 50% of the time.