The ghazal, a poetic form rooted in seventh century Arabia, became popular in the United States through the translations of Rumi, Hafiz, and Ghalib. As a young poet, Jim Harrison became enamored with ghazals, and while he ignored most of the formal rules, within the energized couplets he discovered a welcome vehicle for his driving passions, muscular genius, and wrecking-ball rages. The year Outlyer & Ghazals appeared, The New York Times honored the book with inclusion on their coveted "Noteworthy Titles" list, provocatively noting that these poems were "worth loving, hating, and fighting over." Collected Ghazals gathers all of Harrisons's published ghazals into a single volume, accompanied by an "Afterword" by poet and noted ghazal writer Denver Butson, who writes that with this collection, Harrison's ghazals "are ours to witness again in all their messy, brave, honest, grieving, lustful, longing humanity."

"These are raucous, boozy, at times sexually explicit journeys beyond standard forms, often expressing a young poet's exuberance. Harrison wills us to follow him: 'When I slept in the woods I awoke before dawn / and drank brandy and listened to the birds until the moon / disappeared.' Closing with an illuminating afterword by poet Denver Butson, this collection arrives from the spirit world buoyant, its rowdy soul intact."--Booklist