Winner of the 2001 National Poetry Series, Pure Descent was selected by Fanny Howe. This book of poetry expresses its title in at least two ways: as a straight descent into the world and into the fear and reality of death; and as a fall from "purity" and spiritual "grace." Elizabeth Robinson searches through her struggles with the spiritual world that is as fresh as today's headlines.

Elizabeth Robinson grew up in Los Alamitos, California. She attended Bard College and Brown University, and now lives in the San Francisco area. Her previous books include Eight Etudes, Bed of Lists, In the Sequence of Falling Things, and My Name Happens Also.