Description: The harmonious existence shared by poet Mark Doty and his companion of many years, Wally Roberts, was shattered in 1989 when Wally tested positive for HIV. From diagnosis to the initial signs of deterioration to the heartbreaking hour when Wally is released from his body's ruined vessel, "Heaven's Coast" offers an intimate chronicle of love, its hardships, and its innumerable gifts.
Brief description:
Mark Doty's books of poetry and nonfiction prose have been honored with numerous distinctions, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and, in the United Kingdom, the T. S. Eliot Prize. In 2008, he won the National Book Award for Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems. He is a professor at the University of Houston, and he lives in New York City.