The Honeymoon Wilderness is Pier Giorgio Di Cicco's first full-length collection of new poetry to be published since 1986 when he withdrew from the world of literature to join a monastery. These are poems of fear and wonder from a man deeply engaged in the contemplation of the everyday. They resonate with the surprising imagery and heart-wrenching lyrical intelligence that is the hallmark of Di Cicco's best work. The Honeymoon Wilderness amply demonstrates why Di Cicco must still be considered one of our major, essential poets.

Pier Giorgio Di Cicco was born in Arezzo, Italy, and was raised in Baltimore, Montreal, and Toronto. He currently resides in the countryside north of Toronto. He is the author of over thirteen books of poems from 1975 to 1986 including The Tough Romance, Dancing in the House Of Cards, Flying Deeper into the Century, and Virgin Science: Hunting Holistic Paradigms. He withdrew from the world of letters to join a monastery in 1986 and re-emerged in 2001 to publish Living in Paradise Ð New and Selected Poems with Mansfield Press. He has been the Emilio Goggio Visiting Professor in Italian-Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto, and in 2004 he was named as the Poet Laureate for the City of Toronto. Pier Giorgio Di Cicco has extended the role of Poet Laureate beyond the area of arts advocacy and into the realm of Òcivic aesthetic,' a term he coined to define building a city through citizenship, civic ethic and urban psychology. His urban philosophy has found popularity in forums ranging from the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities and The Creative Cities Project of the Ontario and Toronto governments, to The Waterfront Revitalization Corporation and international conferences on urban sustainability. He is a Roman Catholic Priest, Curator of the Toronto Museum Project and Center for Global Cities and teaches for the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto.

Pier Giorgio Di Cicco's profile page

In the restless quest for paradise that his work to date enactsÑsometimes luminous, sometimes overreaching, always I think heroicÑDi Cicco has blazed one of the moving exemplary paths in contemporary poetry.Ó (Dennis Lee)