John Wareham

In this startling collection of forty nine sonnets, hidden meanings and insights are unveiled by John Wareham, who also distills and dissects sonnets from the infamous Charles and Camilla cell phone conversation, lines from Diana Spencer, the text messages that trapped Tiger Woods, e-mailed love missives from the Mark Sanford Appalachian Trail affair, and transcripts from the John and Elizabeth Edwards meltdown. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary also make cameo appearances.

These lessons from these pop-culture personalities, appear within a mix of classic and modern poets—from the sublime William Shakespeare to the incandescent Elan Haverford—chronicle the typical journey from attraction and fever to anguish and enlightenment. A forbidden drama unfolds in just twelve lines, then a two-line heroic couplet delivers a startling message, a veritable epiphany.

To absorb this startling compilation is to share the delights and despairs of a stunning phalanx of brilliant poets, including ardent Mary Wroth, mordant Michael Drayton, shameless Alfred Douglas, mystical W. B. Yeats, rebellious Edna St. Vincent Millay, unrepentant Edna Worthley Underwood, and puckish Chandler Haste.