The Paradise of Forms certifies Aaron Shurin as not only one of the most respected gay writers of our time but also as a poet at the forefront of today's avant-garde. Shurin, who is nationally recognized for his recent essays on the AIDS crisis, was an early contributor to Gay Sunshine and other gay magazines in the 1970s. In the 1980s, his poetry was increasingly identified among the most ambitious being published, and he is today known as one of the country's foremost innovative writers. The Paradise of Forms surveys all of Shurin's work but gives particular attention to his most recent writings, such as his Involuntary Lyrics: San Francisco, ah, west of ascension, none of us wanted posterity before we got to pleasure it Another sick, sickening, the last newest in his prime.