My Trade Is Mystery

Carl Phillips is the author of sixteen books of poetry. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020. His most recent prose book is The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination. Phillips lives in St. Louis, where he teaches at Washington University.

“Revelatory [and] sometimes contrarian. . . . I’ve admired [Phillips’s] poetry for years, but reading this Pulitzer winner operating in another genre amplified, for me, the subtlety, brilliance, and humility of his work.”—Andrew LaVallee, New York Times “A small collection of illuminating, deeply endearing essays about the writing life.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post“Slender and rewarding, this essay collection finds the American poet embracing the mysteries of his craft, rather than striving to explain them away.”—Hephzibah Anderson, The Observer“If this book was only for poets and writers, it would still be a wonder. But here, Phillips has revealed a map for why and how to pursue anything loved, as welcoming to someone honing a jump shot as a sentence, relevant to the poet and postal worker. More than a craft book, it is a reminder of the restlessness and recklessness that call many of us to keep doing the things we’re drawn to. A book equally rich for the seasoned writer as the novice, and one whose insight will call you to it, again and again.”—Reginald Dwayne Betts“These meditations are simply extraordinary. With abiding care for the mysteries of creation, bracing wisdom, and fierce honesty, Carl Phillips moves us all closer to ‘the native language of the interior self.’”—Lia Purpura“How I love the elusive textures of this book. Blurring essay and craft lecture, riff and reflection, My Trade Is Mystery is less a how-to than a meditation on the art. Writing is, first and foremost, a matter of being present, and here, Phillips brings a career’s attention to the subject, not instructing so much as engaging, asking the necessary questions about how to live a life in art.”—David L. Ulin