Taking Measure surveys the entire writing career of X. J. Kennedy from his first collection of poetry, Nude Descending a Staircase, to his latest collection, The Minimus Poems. Beginning with a study of the way Kennedy designs his poetry to reflect the poem's subject and tone, the book then traces Kennedy's poetic development through each of his poetry publications. Concluding the book is a chronology of Kennedy's life and writing history, a discussion of the influences on Kennedy's work, a list of his publications and of the titles of his poetry, and a selected bibliography.