Have reached the midpoint of the Collected Poems of James Merrill and contemplating whether to continue. It isn't that there aren't rewards in reading JM, but it's generally hard work and I'm missing reading other short collections. Can't remember finding The Changing Light at Sandover this tough, despite that being his epic narrative.
Mind you, every so often you get something so obviously brilliant that it seems churlish not to continue. Case in point: I've just reached Ideas from the 1985 collection Late Settings, and the technical mastery of the iambic pentameters and his favourite abba rhyme scheme is so complete that you just want more. Can't think of anyone else who'd have the chutzpah to rhyme psychedelic and Tillich. Having said that, I'm going to have to read it at least a couple of times more to get even close to a basic understanding (and this is from someone who actually gets the Tillich reference without having to resort to Google.)
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